EU Defence Co-operation

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which UK representatives attended the International Military Co-operation conference on 11 and 12 October 2004 in Wassenaar; and whether the Government agreed to work through any project groups to improve European military capabilities.

John Reid: A small team of officials from the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office attended the conference, at which the Government did not enter into any agreement.
	In 2003 EU member states decided unanimously to create European Capabilities Action Plan Project Groups to address recognised shortfalls in European military capabilities in relation to the overarching Headline Goal capability improvement process.
	The United Kingdom sends a representative to 11 of the 14 groups. We will review representation as changes to these groups are implemented following a May 2005 evaluation report by the European Defence Agency.

EU Defence Co-operation

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what commitment the Government made at the EU Military Capability Conference on 22 November 2004 in Brussels; and if he will make a statement.

John Reid: The Government committed to providing as EU Battlegroups one national Battlegroup and one joint Battlegroup with the Netherlands (based on long-standing cooperation in the UK/Netherlands Amphibious Force). The national Battlegroup would be on standby for the first six months of the Initial Operational Capability period (January-June 2005); the joint Battlegroup would become available from 2007 for the Full Operational Capability period.
	Our current commitment is that one of these Battlegroups will be on standby in the second half of 2008 and the other in the first half of 2010. The UK contributions will be drawn from our Joint Rapid Reaction Force as appropriate at the time.
	Together with other EU Defence Ministers, the Government also agreed a declaration on European military capabilities which has been made available in the Library of the House as part of the presidency report on European Security and Defence Policy given by the July-December 2004 presidency of the Netherlands.

Nuclear Deterrent

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what preparatory work has begun on a replacement for Trident; what the cost of that work has been; and if he will make a statement.

John Reid: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave on 14 June 2005, Official Report, columns 333–34W, to the hon. Member for New Forest, East (Dr. Lewis).

Aquatic Environment

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what information she has procured to establish the levels of residues from anti-depressant drugs in the (a) livers, (b) brains and (c) muscle of fish.

Ben Bradshaw: As a follow-up to studies commissioned by the Environment Agency in which trace levels of some pharmaceuticals were detected in UK sewage effluents and rivers, the CEFAS Laboratory at Burnham on Crouch has investigated the presence of selected pharmaceutical products, including the antidepressant Lofepramine, in the liver and muscles of a small number of pike in the Grand Union canal. Pike are predatory fish and due to biomagnification will exhibit the highest levels of any residues likely to enter the food chain. Lofepramine was not detected in any of the samples.
	The Environment Agency have developed a position statement on pharmaceuticals—which can be found on the Agency's website, www.environment-agency.gov.uk (search-pharmaceuticals). This elaborates further on the work done and includes a recommendation to the pharmaceutical industry to do more on the development of analytical methods for environmental monitoring. I am pleased that the Environment Agency is in discussion with the industry on the development of a work programme to cover the recommendations to industry listed in the position statement.

Municipal Recycling

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which Government targets for recycling provision local authorities must meet over the next five years; and if she will make a statement.

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will review the use of weight-based targets for local authorities in respect of their recycling activities.

Ben Bradshaw: In response to recommendation 9 of the strategy unit report "Waste not, Want not", the Government are currently undertaking a review of recycling and composting targets in the light of performance against 2003–04 targets. The review is considering the efficacy of the existing suite of targets, and the value in setting future targets. It will take into account the fact that there are already a number of policy levers designed to drive the management of waste up the hierarchy. The targets review will inform decisions by Ministers—as soon as possible—on any adjustment to existing targets and on any new sustainable waste targets to be set at national or local level aimed at driving up performance. Both reviews will take full account of stakeholders' and the public's views.

Non-motor Vehicle Batteries

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of non-motor vehicle batteries were recycled in the latest year for which figures are available.

Ben Bradshaw: Less than 2 per cent. of spent portable batteries were collected in the UK for recycling. We believe the level of collection of industrial batteries for recycling is higher, but we do not have precise figures. The Government plans to undertake work to establish the collection and recycling levels being achieved for industrial batteries.

Aircraft Emissions

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans the Government has to tackle aircraft emissions.

Karen Buck: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 24 May 2005, Official Report, column 60W, to the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr. Hayes). The Government's plans to tackle aircraft emissions are set out in "The Future of Air Transport" white paper, which sets out the Government's belief that the best way of ensuring aviation contributes towards the goal of climate stabilisation would be through a well-designed emissions trading regime, for which the Government will press at international and European level.

Buses

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much money did the Government provide for rural bus services in (a) 2003 and (b) 2004; and what the projected figure is for 2005.

Karen Buck: Allocations to local authorities of Rural Bus Subsidy Grant were £48.5 million in 2003–04, £51 million in 2004–05 and £53 million in 2005–06.
	In 2003, new awards totalling £20.3 million were announced in the final annual round of the Rural Bus Challenge (RBC) competition. Typically RBC awards provide project funding lasting for two to three years.
	In addition, support for rural bus services was included in awards made under the Countryside Agency's Rural Transport Partnership and Parish Transport schemes. A total of over 250 awards were made by the Agency under these schemes in 2003–04, the last year new awards were made.

Buses

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many road accidents involving buses there were in each year since 1997.

Stephen Ladyman: The information requested is not available. The numbers shown in the following table are for bus/coach, this category is determined by the construction of the vehicle rather than its use and includes vehicles equipped to carry 17 or more seated passengers, regardless of whether or not the vehicle is being used in stage operation.
	These figures are published each year in table 23 of "Road Casualties Great Britain: Annual Report".
	
		Accidents involving a bus/coach(1): GB 1997–2003
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1997 11,034 
			 1998 11,585 
			 1999 11,735 
			 2000 11,524 
			 2001 11,334 
			 2002 10,586 
			 2003 10,765 
		
	
	(1) Accidents involving at least one bus/coach.

Pedicabs

Gwyneth Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  whether the Disability Discrimination (Transport Vehicles) Regulations 2006 will apply to pedicabs; and what assessment his Department has made of whether pedicab vehicles comply with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995;
	(2)  if he will meet the operators of pedicabs to discuss ways in which their vehicles can be redesigned to conform with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

Karen Buck: To the extent that pedicabs fall within the definition of "taxi" as defined in the regulations, which we published in draft in November 2004, then it is proposed that they will be covered.
	Accessibility regulations have not yet been made under Part 5 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. When those regulations are made they will require that taxis, as defined in the Act, are subject to the accessibility requirements. We have no immediate plans to meet with pedicab operators to discuss accessibility issues.

Public Transport (Fatal Accidents)

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many fatal accidents there were on public transport in England in each year since 1997.

Karen Buck: The table gives number of fatalities in road accidents on buses or coaches, minibuses and taxis. These include passengers, drivers and other staff on the vehicle. They do not include casualties in accidents which occurred off the public highway, such as in bus depots. Road vehicles are recorded by construction rather than use. Bus, coach and minibus casualties in the table are not necessarily those from vehicles used for public service.
	Rail fatalities are given for train accidents and accidents through movement of railway vehicles such as boarding and alighting from trains.
	
		Public transport: road
		
			  Taxi Minibus(2) Bus or coach 
		
		
			 1997 12 — 14 
			 1998 5 — 18 
			 1999 10 15 11 
			 2000 12 14 15 
			 2001 4 24 14 
			 2002 6 7 19 
			 2003 11 16 11 
		
	
	(2) Prior to 1999, data for minibuses were included with motor caravans.
	
		Public transport: rail 2
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1996–97 21 
			 1997–98 42 
			 1998–99 32 
			 1999–2000 60 
			 2000–01 34 
			 2001–02 26 
			 2002–03 42 
		
	
	(3) Rail accidents are train accidents and accidents through movement of railway vehicles.

Road Accidents

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many accidents occurred on the A49 between Ludlow and Shrewsbury in the last 12 months.

Stephen Ladyman: The information requested is shown in the following table:
	
		Accidents
		
			 Severity 2003 
		
		
			 Fatal 1 
			 Serious 2 
			 Slight 45 
			 Total 48

Road Fund Licences

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) road fund and (b) statutory off-road notification declarations were issued by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency for each construction and use class of motor vehicles in each of the last five years for which records are available; and how many renewal reminder notices were issued in each category.

Stephen Ladyman: DVLA does not hold these details broken down by category of vehicle. The tables detail the numbers of tax renewal reminders notices issued by DVLA and the total number of VED applications and SORN declarations processed together with the licensed vehicle stock, broken down by category at the end of each year.
	
		Tax renewal reminder notices issued (no separate figures are held, for SORN reminders)
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 2000–01 36,587,988 
			 2001–02 36,775,597 
			 2002–03 37,613,560 
			 2003–04 37,835,189 
			 2004–05 39,800,854 
		
	
	
		Applications processed Number
		
			 Licensing Applications 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 
		
		
			 Licence renewal reminder notices 27,997,556 28,965,236 29,224,804 31,518,374 30,207,779 
			 Manual licensing applications 9,104,644 9,310,662 9,457,992 8,751,798 9,472,862 
			 Total 37,102,200 38,275,898 38,682,796 40,270,172 39,680,641 
		
	
	
		SORN declarations Number
		
			  2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 
		
		
			 SORN reminder notices 1,059,293 1,162,387 1 ,222,733 1,699,067 2,292,656 
			 SORN manual declarations 115,906 258,771 352,351 946,811 366,339 
			 Total 1,175,199 1,421,158 1,575,084 2,645,878 2,658,995 
		
	
	
		Licensed vehicle stock Thousand
		
			  2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 
		
		
			 Cars 24,406 25,126 25,782 26,240 27,028 
			 Taxis 38 39 39 39 41 
			 Tricycles 954 1,010 1,070 1,135 1,191 
			 Motorcycles 24 22 21 19 18 
			 Light goods 2,204 2,276 2,343 2,434 2,581 
			 Goods 583 603 625 639 663 
			 Bus and coach 173 172 173 175 178 
			 Agricultural 287 284 292 304 321 
			 Others 229 216 213 222 238 
			 Total 28,898 29,747 30,557 31,207 32,259

Road Pricing

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he expects that the (a) London congestion charging scheme and (b) Durham congestion charging scheme would continue if universal road pricing were introduced; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Ladyman: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 16 June 2005 to the hon. Members for Dundee, East (Stewart Hosie) and Romford (Andrew Rosindell).

Safety Cameras

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many speed cameras have operated since 6 December 2004, broken down by (a) partnership, (b) class of road and (c) between (i) fixed and (ii) mobile cameras.

Stephen Ladyman: Information, as held by the Department, was provided in my answer of 9 June 2005, Official Report, columns 617–19W. Further detailed information is available from partnerships.

Traffic Survey (M1)

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport for what reason a traffic survey was carried out on the M1 near to its intersection with the M25 on 8 June.

Stephen Ladyman: While I am not aware of a specific traffic survey at this location on 8 June, traffic counts are being carried out throughout June on the M25 and the approaches to its junctions on the northern section. The traffic flow data is being used to support the design of the M25 Rapid Widening Scheme from junctions 16 to 30.

Afghanistan/Iraq

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much has been spent by (a) the UK and (b) all other countries in support of humanitarian aid to (i) Afghanistan and (ii) Iraq since 2001–02.

Hilary Benn: The latest OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) statistics for total humanitarian and reconstruction assistance to Afghanistan and Iraq are as follows (figures for emergency humanitarian assistance are in brackets):
	
		
			   £ million 
			  2001 2002 2003 
		
		
			 All donors   
			 Afghanistan 283.4 (217.9) 854.6 (400.6) 938.8 (231.5) 
			 Iraq 80.6 (70.4) 77.3 (58.8) 1,387.1 (561.7) 
			
			 UK   
			 Afghanistan 24.6 (24.4) 87.2 (62.6) 60.4 (18.8) 
			 Iraq 8.8 (8.8) 9.2 (9.2) 110.2 (101.7) 
		
	
	Source:
	DAC
	Online Database, 9 June 2005
	Non-members of the DAC have also provided support to both countries but do not report it in a comparable way. The Iraqi Government is in the process of setting up a database to track donor assistance but figures are not yet available.
	DAC statistics for 2004 will be available in September. The estimated outturn for DFID spending for 2004–05 is £72.8 million for Afghanistan and £61 million for Iraq, as reported in the DFID 2005 Departmental Report.

Africa

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps the Government is taking to reduce trade barriers in Africa.

Hilary Benn: The Government continues to seek a successful World Trade Organisation ministerial in Hong Kong in December 2005. Multilateral liberalisation that reduces tariff barriers among all countries will lead to the greatest gains for poor developing countries, including within Africa.
	Reducing trade barriers in Africa requires national governments to place a strong emphasis on trade as a source of growth. DFID supports the inter-agency Integrated Framework (IF). This helps countries to develop trade policies and the capacity to implement them as a part of wider poverty reduction plans. Countries where DFID will continue to play a leading role in the IF include Lesotho, Zambia, Rwanda, and Malawi.
	DFID supports several trade policy capacity building projects, including in Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, Ghana, and Nigeria. These assist Governments to develop trade policy, link this to poverty reduction and identify and negotiate their strategic interests in international trade negotiations. Any reduction in trade barriers within Africa must build on African countries' own regional integration efforts and development objectives and promote the development of supply side capacity to take advantage of market access opportunities. DFID also provides £11 million for a regional trade facilitation programme in Southern Africa, which supports enhanced trade within the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) 1 and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) 2 .
	DFID is also working with the European Commission to ensure that its trade policies reduce barriers to trade in Africa, for example through influencing the current review of the EU's rules of origin to ensure they make it easier for African countries to use competitively priced inputs in their exports to the EU.
	1 SADC members: Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Mauritius.
	2 COMESA members: Egypt, Burundi, Rwanda, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Malawi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Swaziland, Uganda, Kenya, Mauritius, Comoros, Madagascar, Namibia, and Seychelles.

Angola

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when he expects a donor conference to be held for Angola; and if he will make a statement.

Hilary Benn: Timing on a donors' conference has not as yet been confirmed. In order to ensure that the Government of Angola takes the necessary steps towards a successful conference, Donors have made clear to the Government of Angola, their view that the Government should have in place both an agreed programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and an effective poverty reduction strategy. There have been a number of discussions between the Government of Angola and the IMF on the framework for a staff monitored programme, focusing largely on issues of financial transparency and public accountability. I understand that an Angolan mission will be visiting Washington soon for further discussions on this, which we hope will achieve agreement. On the issue of the poverty reduction strategy, DFID has offered support to the Government to improve the present draft, working with civil society and other donors.

Sudan

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when he expects to complete the arrangements for the UK mortality survey in Darfur; and what his most recent estimate is of the number of people who have died each day on average in Darfur.

Hilary Benn: The UK is funding a second World Health Organisation (WHO) mortality survey that is currently being conducted in Darfur. We expect the results will be published by the end of this month.
	Very little data is available on mortality rates in Darfur. Estimates from the previous WHO study conducted in August 2004 showed that there had been between 1.5 and 3.3 deaths per 10,000 people per day. This study only surveyed people in accessible internally displaced people (IDPs) camps, and had very little coverage of South Darfur. The new survey is sampling IDPs in camps and settlements, and affected resident populations, and will allow the UN to make more up to date estimates.

Breast Cancer

Iain Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the incidence of breast cancer per 1,000 women has been in (a) England and (b) Hartlepool in each year since 1990.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. Iain Wright, dated 20 June 2005
	The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what the incidence of breast cancer per 1,000 women has been in (a) England and (b) Hartlepool in each year since 1990. I am replying in his absence. (4331)
	The most recent available incidence figures are for the year 2002. Age-standardised incidence rates (directly standardised to the European standard population) per 100,000 females for female breast cancer in England and Hartlepool in each year since 1990 are given in the table below.
	
		Directly age-standardised incidence rates(4) (per 100,000 females) of female breast 2 cancer in England and Hartlepool Unitary Authority, 1990 to 2002
		
			  England Hartlepool 
		
		
			 1990 98.9 102.7 
			 1991 105.3 90.4 
			 1992 106.6 86.8 
			 1993 101.5 115.0 
			 1994 103.7 108.6 
			 1995 103.9 115.6 
			 1996 105.1 83.7 
			 1997 108.1 127.6 
			 1998 112.7 72.8 
			 1999 116.5 92.6 
			 2000 113.8 103.2 
			 2001 114.5 112.9 
			 2002 114.0 112.3 
		
	
	(4) Age-standardised rates per 100,000 population are directly standardised to the European standard population. In detailed analyses of trends in incidence and mortality over time for a particular cancer, ONS use age-standardised rates. These control for differences in the size and age structure of the population and allow unbiased comparison of rates over time.
	(5) From 1990 to 1994, International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) code 174; from 1995 to 2002, International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) code C50.
	Source:
	Office for National Statistics

EU Budget Contributions

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the value has been of the (a) gross contribution to the European Union budget and (b) net contribution after receiving subsidies and structural funds of (i) the United Kingdom, (ii) France and (iii) Germany expressed as (A) a percentage of the gross national product and (B) per head of population in each year since 1995.

Ivan Lewis: The estimated gross and net contribution for the United Kingdom, France and Germany as a percentage of gross national income and per capita in each year since 1995 are as follows. It should be noted that in line with ESA 95, gross national income has replaced gross national product.
	
		
			  Percentage GNI 
			  1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 
		
		
			 Gross contribution before abatement 
			 Germany 1.12 1.08 1.13 1.06 1.05 1.06 0.90 0.82 0.88 
			 France 0.97 0.96 1.04 1.01 1.00 0.99 0.89 0.83 0.86 
			 United Kingdom 1.24 1.19 0.99 1.25 1.09 1.12 0.95 0.89 0.89 
			  
			 Gross contribution after abatement 
			 Germany 1.14 1.11 1.16 1.10 1.09 1.09 0.97 0.83 0.90 
			 France 1.00 1.02 1.09 1.07 1.06 1.05 1.00 0.93 0.96 
			 United Kingdom 1.07 0.88 0.77 1.00 0.83 0.90 0.49 0.60 0.58 
			  
			 Receipts 
			 Germany 0.43 0.55 0.56 0.55 0.52 0.52 0.51 0.55 0.50 
			 France 0.87 1.00 1.02 0.95 0.99 0.90 0.82 0.80 0.85 
			 United Kingdom 0.53 0.65 0.62 0.56 0.44 0.51 0.37 0.36 0.36 
			  
			 Net contribution with abatement 
			 Germany 0.71 0.56 0.60 0.54 0.57 0.57 0.46 0.28 0.40 
			 France 0.13 0.01 0.06 0.12 0.07 0.15 0.19 0.13 0.11 
			 United Kingdom 0.54 0.23 0.16 0.44 0.38 0.39 0.11 0.24 0.22 
		
	
	
		Euro per capita
		
			  1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 
		
		
			 Gross contribution before abatement 
			 Germany 257 246 253 243 248 257 222 209 227 
			 France 199 202 217 220 225 233 216 213 226 
			 United Kingdom 185 192 196 269 250 295 256 256 255 
			  
			 Gross contribution after abatement 
			 Germany 261 253 259 251 257 265 240 213 233 
			 France 205 214 227 233 239 246 244 238 254 
			 United Kingdom 160 142 153 215 189 236 132 172 168 
			  
			 Receipts 
			 Germany 99 125 125 127 122 126 126 142 129 
			 France 179 212 213 206 224 211 199 205 225 
			 United Kingdom 80 105 122 120 101 135 101 105 105 
			  
			 Net contribution with abatement 
			 Germany 162 129 133 125 135 139 114 71 104 
			 France 27 2 13 26 15 35 46 32 29 
			 United Kingdom 80 36 31 95 88 102 31 68 63

Inflation (Council Tax)

John Hemming: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the inflation rate has been in each year since the creation of the council tax.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. John Hemming, dated 20 June 2005
	The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what the inflation rate has been in each year since the creation of the council tax. I am replying in his absence. (4953)
	The attached table shows the annual average index and the corresponding percentage changes in the annual average index for the all items retail prices index (RPI) for the years 1993–2004 (council tax was introduced on 1st April 1993). The consumer prices index (CPI) which is the main domestic measure of inflation for macroeconomic purposes does not include council tax.
	This data is available on the National Statistics website www.statistics.gov.uk and through the House of Commons library.
	
		Retail prices index annual average indices and percentage changes (January 1987 = 100)
		
			  All items index Annual percentage change 
		
		
			 1993 140.7 1.6 
			 1994 144.1 2.4 
			 1995 149.1 3.5 
			 1996 152.7 2.4 
			 1997 157.5 3.1 
			 1998 162.9 3.4 
			 1999 165.4 1.5 
			 2000 170.3 3.0 
			 2001 173.3 1.8 
			 2002 176.2 1.7 
			 2003 181.3 2.9 
			 2004 186.7 3.0

Non-taxpayers

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of people in the United Kingdom who are non-taxpayers; and how many people he estimates use form R85 which allows the payment of interest on accounts with banks and building societies to be paid free of income tax to non-taxpayers.

Dawn Primarolo: On the number of non-taxpayers, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Torbay (Mr. Sanders) on 16 June. HM Revenue and Customs estimate that around 15 million people, including children under 16, use form R85.

Public Sector Debt

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to change fiscal rules relating to the cap on public sector debt.

Ivan Lewis: The sustainable investment rule states that public sector net debt as a proportion of GDP will be held over the economic cycle at a stable and prudent level. Other things being equal, net debt will be maintained below 40 per cent. of GDP over the economic cycle.
	There are currently no plans to change the fiscal rules, however as noted in the Government's response to the TSC report on the 2004 pre-Budget report, the Government, of course, keeps the fiscal framework under review to ensure it remains at the forefront of international best practice.

Race Relations

Keith Vaz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what percentage of staff in his Department have received training on the general and specific duties of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, broken down by (a) ethnicity and (b) grade.

John Healey: Race awareness is integral to Treasury's diversity training, which is mainstreamed into the management and employment learning and development for senior managers and all staff. The Treasury has held events on race to address learning needs and to role model the need to promote equality across all diversity strands. In 2003 presentations were given to all Treasury directorates on the duty to promote race equality. In 2004 a seminar 'Raising our Sights on Race' was conducted with the Treasury's Ethnic Minority Advisory Group to raise awareness with representatives across all directorates of duties under the Act and the experience of ethnic minority staff in the Department.
	In 2005 a department wide seminar involved all directorates in designing approaches to fulfil our obligations under the Act and meet our wider aspirations on diversity. The Treasury has also identified a need to provide a short summary of duties under the Act for new entrants.
	Ethnicity and grade data for staff attending training on the general and specific duties of the RRA is not currently available. The Treasury has, however, recently introduced a computerised learning management system which will automatically capture data on the ethnicity and grade profiles of staff who receive training in the future. This data will be made available annually on the race equality section of the Treasury's website from spring 2006.

Council Tax

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the take-up of council tax benefit in Wales.

Anne McGuire: There are 272 thousand active council tax benefit claims in Wales, with over 11 thousand in Wrexham. Data on the rate of council tax benefit take-up in Wales is not available as it is only produced for Great Britain as a whole.
	We are working with local authorities to make sure they have procedures in place locally to encourage people to apply for council tax benefit. I refer my hon. Friend to the answer my colleague gave earlier.

Pension Commission

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for how long he expects the consultation on the findings of the Pension Commission to last.

Stephen Timms: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave earlier to his hon. Friend.

Child Support Agency

Brian Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when Child Support Agency cases that pre-date the new system will be transferred onto the new system.

James Plaskitt: A new chief executive of the agency has recently taken up post. He will be reporting to Ministers over the summer on proposals to improve the agency's performance.
	We will only make a decision on the transfer of old scheme cases once we are confident that the system and business processes are robust.

Youth Unemployment

Lee Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many young people are economically inactive.

Margaret Hodge: There are currently 2.1 million under 25s who are classified as economically inactive, two thirds of whom are in full-time education. Of the remaining 695 thousand, many will be participating in part-time study or receiving support from either the Connexions Service or Jobcentre Plus.

Child Poverty

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many children were classified as living in poverty in each year from 1979–80 to 2005–06; what targets have been set for each year to 2020; and if he will make a statement.

Margaret Hodge: In the mid to late 1990s, the UK suffered higher child poverty than nearly all other industrialised nations. Over the previous 20 years, the proportion of children in relative low-income households had more than doubled. As our first step towards eradicating this problem, we set an aim to reduce the number of children living in relative low-income households by a quarter by 2004–05. The data for this period will be released in 2006.
	The PSA target set in the 2004 Spending Review is to halve the number of children in relative low-income households between 1998–99 and 2010–11, on the way to eradicating child poverty in 2020. As part of this, the Government will set an additional target in the 2006 Spending Review to halve by 2010 the numbers of children suffering a combination of material deprivation and relative low income.
	The following table sets out both the percentage and the number of children living in households with an income of below 60 per cent. of the contemporary median, since 1997, which is most commonly used in reporting trends.
	
		Percentage and number of children living in households with income less than 60 per cent. of median
		
			  Before housing costs After housing costs 
			  Number (million) Percentage Number (million) Percentage 
		
		
			 1979 1.7 12 1.9 14 
			 1981 2.4 18 2.7 20 
			 1987 2.6 21 3.1 25 
			 1988–89 2.9 23 3.3 26 
			 1990–91 3.2 26 3.9 31 
			 1991–92 3.4 27 4.1 32 
			 1992–93 3.5 27 4.3 33 
			 1993–94 3.3 25 4.2 32 
			 1994–95 3.2 24 4.2 32 
			 1995–96 3.5 26 4.6 35 
		
	
	
		Percentage and number of children living in households with income less than 60 per cent. of median
		
			  Before housing costs After housing costs 
			  Number (million) Percentage Number (million) Percentage 
		
		
			 1994–95 2.9 23 4.0 31 
			 1995–96 2.8 22 4.0 31 
			 1996–97 3.2 25 4.2 33 
			 1997–98 3.1 25 4.1 32 
			 1998–99 3.1 24 4.1 33 
			 1999–2000 3.0 23 4.1 32 
			 2000–01 2.7 21 3.8 30 
			 2001–02 2.6 21 3.7 30 
			 2002–03 2.6 21 3.6 28 
			 2003–04 2.6 21 3.5 28 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Family Expenditure Survey (FES) figures are for the United Kingdom, Family Resources Survey (FRS) figures are for Great Britain.
	2. The reference period for FRS figures is single financial years.
	3. FES figures are single calendar years from 1979–87, two combined calendar years from 1998–89—1992–93 and two financial years combined from 1993–94—1995–96.
	4. Figures are based on the new grossing regime to give more accurate results, particularly at a regional level, and to scale to updated population estimates.
	5. All publications listed are available in the Library.
	Source:
	Family Resources Survey (GB)

Disability Allowance

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many young people have been registered for disability allowance in East Devon in each of the last five years.

Anne McGuire: The information is in the table.
	
		East Devon parliamentary constituency
		
			  As at February: Number in receipt of disability living allowance 
		
		
			 2001 2,100 
			 2002 2,200 
			 2003 2,400 
			 2004 2,600 
			 2005 2,800 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Figures taken from a 5 per cent. sample as at the end of February for each year.
	2. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100.
	3. From November 2002, the methodology for producing these figures was changed to allow statistics to be published much sooner. This has resulted in a small increase in the reported caseload. This is because some cases which have actually terminated but have not yet been updated on the computer system are now included.
	4. Only cases in payment have been included.
	Source:
	Information Centre

Poverty

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in the UK were living in absolute poverty during the latest period for which figures are available, broken down by (a) pensioners, (b) unemployed, (c) disabled and (d) others; and if he will make a statement.

Margaret Hodge: Poverty is about more than low income, it is also about health, housing and the quality of environment.
	Specific information regarding low income for the United Kingdom is available in 'Households Below Average Income 1994–95—2003–04'. The threshold of below 60 per cent. contemporary median income is the most commonly used in reporting trends in low income.
	The information is in the following table.
	
		The number of individuals living in households with income less than the 60 per cent. of 1996–97 (GB) median income held constant in real terms, in 1996–97 and 2003–04
		
			  Great Britain 1996–97 Great Britain 2003–04 United Kingdom 2003–04 
		
		
			 Before housing costs
			 Pensioners 2,200,000 1,100,000 1,200,000 
			 In an unemployed family 1,800,000 700,000 700,000 
			 In a family with at least one disabled adult 2,900,000 1,800,000 1,800,000 
			 Others 4,600,000 2,800,000 2,800,000 
			 
			 After housing costs
			 Pensioners 2,800,000 900,000 900,000 
			 In an unemployed family 2,200,000 1,000,000 1,000,000 
			 In a family with at least one disabled adult 3,900,000 2,200,000 2,200,000 
			 Others 6,500,000 4,100,000 4,200,000 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Rows presented in the table are not mutually exclusive, for example an individual could be a pensioner and disabled.
	2. 'Unemployed' describes a workless family where either the head, or spouse, is looking for work.
	3. Disability is defined in line with the Disability Discrimination Act.
	4. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100,000.
	5. Figures in the first two columns are for Great Britain and figures in the third column are for the United Kingdom.
	6. 1996–97 figures are provided for comparison on a GB level along with consistent estimates for 2003–04. UK data for 1996–97 are not available as the Family Resources Survey was only extended to cover Northern Ireland in April 2002.
	Source:
	Family Resources Survey (FRS), 2003–04

Poverty

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of children in the UK were living in poverty in (a) 1997 and (b) 2004; what research he has collated on rates in other developed countries; and if he will make a statement.

Margaret Hodge: Specific information regarding low income for the United Kingdom is available in the latest publication of the 'Households Below Average Income 1994–95 to 2003–04'. The threshold of below 60 per cent. contemporary median income is the most commonly used in reporting trends in low income.
	The information is in the table.
	
		Children living in households with income less than 60 per cent. of median income
		
			  Before housing costs After housing costs 
			  Million Percentage Million Percentage 
		
		
			 Great Britain   
			 1996–97 3.2 25 4.2 33 
			 2003–04 2.6 21 3.5 28 
			  
			 United Kingdom  
			 2003–04 2.7 20 3.6 28 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Figures are presented for Great Britain and the United Kingdom as figures for the UK are only available from 2002–03 onwards.
	2. International comparisons are important because the Government aspire to be among the very best performers in Europe on child poverty—competing with the record of countries such as Sweden and Denmark. A focus on income before housing costs, as adopted in our spending review 2004 target, supports this as these are used across other European Union countries.
	3. "Measuring child poverty", published in December 2003, compares findings with our European Union counterparts. It showed that the UK had the highest child poverty rate in Europe in 1999 (29 per cent.), but according to latest data for 2003, we are now closer to the EU average of (23 per cent.). European comparisons are made using data from the European Household Panel Study, and are not comparable with figures using the Family Resources Survey.
	4. By 2020, we want to be comparable to the very best countries in the world. Where the UK had a child poverty rate on the UNICEF measure of 15.4 per cent. in 2004, Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) had rates of less than 5 per cent.
	5. All publications listed are available in the Library.
	Source:
	Family Resources Survey

Sure Start

John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions under what conditions the Sure Start maternity grant is paid; how many grants were paid out in each Government office region in each year since the start of the scheme; how much was paid out in total; and for what proportion of births it was paid.

James Plaskitt: Sure Start maternity grant is payable to people, or partners of people, awarded income support, pension credit, income-based jobseeker's allowance, working tax credit (where the disability or severe disability element is included in the award) or child tax credit (where it is payable at a rate higher than the family element).
	A claim may be made from the 29th week of pregnancy and up to three months after the baby is born. Claimants must have received advice from a health professional on the health and welfare needs of the child and, where a claim is made during pregnancy, maternal health.
	The Sure Start maternity grant is also payable following adoption as long as the baby is not more than 12 months old and following the granting of a parental order in respect of a surrogate birth.
	The available information is in the tables.
	
		Sure Start maternity grants by region for 2004–05
		
			 Government office region Number of awards 
		
		
			 East of England 15,900 
			 East Midlands 16,900 
			 London 35,300 
			 North East 12,800 
			 North West 34,200 
			 Scotland 19,100 
			 South East 20,300 
			 South West 16,300 
			 Wales 13,400 
			 West Midlands 26,600 
			 Yorkshire and Humber 25,300 
		
	
	
		Sure Start maternity grants for Great Britain
		
			  Number of awards Expenditure (£ million) Approximate percentage of births for which a grant was paid 
		
		
			 2000–01 170,300 42.4 26 
			 2001–02 201,400 61.2 32 
			 2002–03 232,400 110.5 36 
			 2003–04 237,800 120.4 (8)— 
			 2004–05 235,900 119.4 (8)— 
		
	
	(8) Not yet available
	Notes:
	1. Sure Start Maternity Grants were introduced on 27 March 2000. The change from Maternity Payments was phased in gradually, with Sure Start Maternity Grants being available to claimants whose babies were expected, born, adopted or the subject of a parental order on or after 11 June 2000.
	2. Data by Government office region (GOR) are not available for 2002–03 or 2003–04. Prior to 2002–03 a different district structure was in use.
	3. Sure Start Maternity Grant awards are recorded in the GOR where they are administered. In 2004–05, a small area of the East Midlands GOR was administered for social fund purposes from a district within the North West GOR.
	4. For a multiple birth, only one Sure Start Maternity Grant is awarded (with a payment being made for each baby). In the general population, the number of maternities resulting in twins is about 15 per 1,000 maternities (and triplets and higher order multiple births can be ignored). The number of babies for whom a Sure Start Maternity Grant was paid was estimated using this figure.
	5. A claim for a Sure Start Maternity Grant can be made from the 29th week of pregnancy and up to three months after the baby is born. A grant paid in one year can therefore be for a birth in a different year.
	6. The approximate percentage of births in a year for which a grant was paid is calculated as 100 x (the number of babies for whom a grant was paid in that year)/(the number of births in that year).
	7. Numbers of awards are rounded to the nearest 100, expenditure to the nearest £0.1 million and the approximate percentage of births for which a grant was paid to the nearest whole number.
	8. For 2004–05, the sum of the number of awards by GOR differs slightly from that for Great Britain due to rounding.
	Sources:
	Data on Sure Start Maternity Grants/Maternity Payments: DWP Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System.
	Data on births: Office for National Statistics.

Licensing (London)

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many applications were made for licences to sell alcohol in each London borough in each month since June 2004.

James Purnell: This information is not available to my Department.
	Statistical data on applications for licences to sell alcohol has traditionally been collected at three yearly intervals (for the last year of each period) using statistics collated by court or petty session division rather than by borough or other local authority area.
	The last exercise conducted was for the period 1 July 2003 to 30 June 2004. As figures are not broken down by month it would not be possible to provide information on liquor licences from each petty sessional area in London for June 2004 without incurring disproportionate costs and no statistics are available from July 2004 onwards.
	After the Licensing Act 2003 is fully implemented on 24 November, my Department will consider the adequacy of the present arrangements for collecting and collating central licensing statistics.

Electricity generation

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proportion of dispatchable electricity generation constituting the United Kingdom's electrical power portfolio he estimates will be obsolete by the year 2020; and what steps he is taking to encourage its replacement.

Malcolm Wicks: The DTI's latest energy projections (http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/sepn/uep_addendum.pdf for information to 2020 and http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/sepn/uep2004.pdf for more detailed information for 2010) indicate that around 40 per cent. of current generating capacity may close by 2020. There are significant uncertainties attached to this estimate. Generating plants do not have fixed lifetimes and worldwide experience shows that significant increases in plant lifetime can be achieved through various means.
	It is a matter for market participants to decide when and to what extent new generating capacity is constructed or existing capacity is refurbished with a view to prolonging lifetimes.

MG Rover

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assistance is available to companies supplying MG Rover who are not located in the West Midlands; what assessment has been made of claims of retention of title made by Rover suppliers in respect of stock supplied to Rover; and what assistance is planned to be given to companies with such claims.

Ian Pearson: The support package for MG Rover suppliers was announced on 8 April 2005 and is available nationally, not just to those companies located within West Midlands. The assistance available includes short-term support for the wage costs of affected employees, loan finance for working capital and help with business planning. These services can be accessed via the Rover taskforce's supplier help line on 0121 607 0121. Details are also available at http://www.rover-response.info
	It is for individual companies to pursue retention of title claims with the administrators of MG Rover and Powertrain. Several suppliers have done this successfully. Government have made no assessment of retention of title claims and there are no plans to do so.
	In order for suppliers with valid claims to recover their property, it is necessary for the MG Rover distribution centre to be staffed and kept open. The cost is significant and the activity is of no benefit to MG Rover's creditors. The administrators are therefore unwilling to fund it and the Department, through the Rover taskforce, have agreed to meet the cost for a limited period so as to assist suppliers to reclaim their stock of components. This facility will be made available up to 23 June 2005.

Nuclear Power

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the cost of electricity generated by nuclear power, in p/kWh, attributable to the costs of decommissioning liabilities.

Malcolm Wicks: The Department does not make estimates of the share of generation costs attributable to decommissioning liabilities.
	British Energy makes payments into the Nuclear Liabilities Fund, which is underwritten by HMG, for the eventual decommissioning of its nuclear plant. Magnox decommissioning is part of the NDA's remit and incorporated in its planning process. Such proposals are set out in its annual plan for 2005–06. The plan for 2005–06 is available at the NDA website at www.nda.gov.uk

Royal Mail (Recorded Deliveries)

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for how long Royal Mail is obliged to keep records of recorded deliveries despatched to residential customers.

Barry Gardiner: This is an operational matter for Royal Mail. The Chief Executive has been asked to reply direct to the hon. Member.

London Olympic Bid

Kate Hoey: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on what dates the Cabinet Committee on the London Olympic Bid has met in the last two years and who attended each meeting.

John Hutton: Although the Government publishes the title, membership and terms of reference of cabinet committees, it has been the practice of successive governments not to disclose details of their proceedings, including the dates they meet.

Carers

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures have been taken to improve facilities for schools to respond to the needs of young carers in the last five years.

Maria Eagle: The Government's National Strategy for Carers "Caring for Carers" set specific commitments to improve support for young carers. The strategy recognises schools as playing a key role in identifying young carers.
	The Department promotes awareness of young carers' needs through specific references in personal, social and health education (PSHE) and citizenship curriculum frameworks; the standards for qualified teacher status; and departmental bullying guidance.
	The DfES Standards Fund Vulnerable Children Grant was introduced in the 2003–04 financial year to help local education authorities to ensure that vulnerable children have access to high quality education. Young carers are one of the eight key groups that the grant is designed to help. The grant was worth a total of £84 million, on a matched funding basis, in the financial years 2003–04 and 2004–05. £84 million is also available in the current financial year 2005–06. It is for local authorities to decide how to use the grant.

EU Students

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  under what circumstances higher education institutions in England would be obliged to award financial support for maintenance purposes to EU students if the support is fee-related from 2006;
	(2)  whether there are circumstances in which the terms used to describe bursary or financial support would make higher education institutions in England liable to make support available to EU students from 2006.

Bill Rammell: My Department does not give advice on the legal obligations of higher education institutions in running their affairs. Institutions take their own decisions on what bursaries or financial support they offer to their students, and are responsible for remaining within the law.

Literacy

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of literacy levels among 11-year-olds in (a) Manchester, Blackley, (b) Manchester, (c) Greater Manchester and (d) England.

Jacqui Smith: The 2004 results show that standards in primary schools are improving again. In English the percentage of 11-year-olds achieving the target level 4 of the national curriculum increased by (percentage) points to 78 per cent.
	Standards in primary schools in the (a) Manchester, Blackley, constituency, (b) Manchester and (c) Greater Manchester have also improved. A summary of the 2004 outcomes compared to 2003 is set out in the table.
	Information on education and skills by constituency is made available by the Department through the 'In Your Area' website, available at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/inyourarea
	
		2004 Key Stage 2 English (achievement at Level 4 and above) compared to 2003 Percentage
		
			  2003 results 2004 results Percentage point increase 
		
		
			 Manchester, Blackley 70 71 +1 
			 Manchester 68 71 +3 
			 Greater Manchester 73 77 +4 
			 England 75 78 +3

Pre/after-school Clubs

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  what activities the proposed after school clubs will offer;
	(2)  how the after school club scheme will be funded; what mechanisms will be put in place to audit the spending of the relevant funds; and what additional services will be provided from the funding provided direct to schools;
	(3)  what steps she will take to ensure that teaching staff do not experience increased workload from the proposed after school club scheme.

Beverley Hughes: Though the development of extended schools, we want children and young people to be able to access a wide range of interesting activities such as homework clubs, sport, music tuition, dance and drama, arts and crafts, special interest clubs such as chess and first aid courses, visits to museums and galleries, foreign language tuition, volunteering, or business and enterprise activities. It will be up to schools in consultation with parents to develop activities that will best meet the needs of their children. The Department for Education and Skills' Extended Schools Prospectus' sets out the Government's expectation of a core set of extended services, including after school activities, that we want to see in or accessible through all schools by 2010.
	The funding for local authorities announced on 13 June is to help 'kick-start' extended services, such as after school clubs. Funding was also announced to be directly distributed to schools. Overtime, in order to ensure that schools can make a sustainable all year round offer of extended services to families they will need to establish realistic costing and charging arrangements.
	Local authorities will allocate funding to schools to develop extended services taking into account factors such as existing services in the community and levels of deprivation. Funding released to schools on that basis should be spent in accordance with that agreement. Local authorities already audit public funds spent by schools. Any additional funding provided for extended schools will fall within this existing audit regime.
	It will be for individual schools to determine, in consultation with parents and young people, the focus of the funding provided directly to schools but it has been provided to help schools develop and sustain extended services.
	There is no expectation that teachers will deliver extended services, nor is it necessary for head teachers to be responsible for their management. The funding made available can be used flexibly to support whatever barriers schools might face in developing extended services. This can include, for example, appointing a manager who works across a cluster of schools to develop extended services and hence ease any burden on existing school staff. The National Remodelling Team will take a lead role in supporting schools on the development of extended services and will provide schools with the support they need to ensure that services develop in way that is consistent with the tenets of school workforce reform.

Special Schools

David Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether the review of provision of special schools will take evidence from (a) Baroness Warnock and (b) other experts.

Maria Eagle: We published the "Report of the Special Schools Working Group" in 2003 which contained a number of specific proposals and recommendations which would allow special schools to develop their role within the wider schools framework. The Group's recommendations are contained in our SEN strategy "Removing Barriers to Achievement". One of the recommendations of the Group was for the Department to carry out a National Audit of low Incidence SEN Specialist support services and provision in order to promote effective regional and sub-regional planning to meet the needs of children with low incidence needs.
	The National Audit of Low Incidence Special Educational Needs (SEN) support, services and provision commenced on 1 February 2005. The audit is due to report back to the Department early January 2006. The audit will predominantly seeking the views in leach local authority area of those sectors and groups involved in the delivery of SEN support services and provision.

Arms Sales

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the Government's policy is towards the application made by Belarus to the UN Sanctions Committee seeking permission to sell arms to Sudan.

Kim Howells: There have been no applications to the relevant UN Sanctions Committee seeking permission to sell arms to Sudan. The Government of Belarus has sought clarification on the scope of the UN arms embargo against Sudan, which has been provided by the Chairman of the UN Sudan Sanctions Committee.

Cote d'Ivoire

Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the killing of civilians in the western Côte d'Ivoire town of Duékoué.

Ian Pearson: We are extremely concerned by events around Duékoué, including the deaths of over 50 people and the displacement of up to 8,000 civilians, and the continuing unrest in the west of Côte d'Ivoire. Together with our European Union partners we have called on all parties to the Ivorian conflict to promote calm, ensure there is no recurrence of these tragic events and keep to the timetable set for disarmament and demobilisation.

Darfur

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what criteria he used to decide whether the situation in Darfur constituted genocide.

Kim Howells: There is no doubt that violations of international humanitarian and human rights law have been committed in Darfur. We have consistently made clear that the perpetrators of these terrible crimes must be brought to justice.
	The UK applies the definition of genocide given in the International Criminal Court Act 2001. Under the Act, "genocide" is defined by reference to Article 6 of the Rome Statute, as certain acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.
	With regard to Sudan, the UK did not have sufficient evidence to judge whether the acts were undertaken with the intent necessary to constitute genocide.
	For this reason, we pressed strongly for the establishment of an expert International Commission of Inquiry (ICI) by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to investigate the reports of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in Darfur in 2004, and to determine whether genocide had occurred. The ICI's report, issued to the Security Council on 31 January 2005, concluded that the Government of Sudan did not appear to have pursued a policy of genocide in Darfur and that, while individuals may have done so, this was a determination which only a competent court could make. The conclusion that no genocidal policy had been pursued by the Government in no way detracted from the gravity of the crimes committed including crimes against humanity and/or war crimes. Following this, the UK played a leading role in sponsoring UN Security Council Resolution 1593 (2005) of 31 March, in which the Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC)—as recommended by the ICI. The prosecutor of the ICC announced a formal investigation on 6 June.

Ethiopia

Sally Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Ethiopian Government on recent events in Addis Ababa; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: On 8 June 2005 my noble Friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the Lord Triesman of Tottenham made a statement stressing the Government's alarm at the reported loss of life and calling on all parties to take responsibility, reach consensus on the investigation of complaints about the electoral process and respect constitutionally established law. We welcome the fact that the Government and Opposition have since then signed an agreement on the investigation of complaints. A copy of the statement is available on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website: www.fco.gov.uk/policy/news/press-releases.
	Ministers have spoken to Prime Minister Meles to express concern about the events. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development (Hilary Benn) also discussed this further with Prime Minister Meles and Opposition Leaders in Addis on 15 June. He urged all parties to show a firm commitment to the National Election Board and to the constitutional process so that the election process can be concluded. He called on Prime Minister Meles to follow due legal process for those who have been detained, to allow immediate access for their families and the Red Cross and to hold a full investigation into the shootings.

Hamas

Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 13 June 2005, Official Report, column 136W, on Hamas, which senior Hamas official the deputy consul-general in Jerusalem was seated next to at President Abbas's inauguration in January.

Kim Howells: The deputy consul-general, acting as chargé d'affaires, sat next to Hassan Youssef, a senior Hamas leader, at President Abbas's inauguration. They did not engage in substantive conversation.

Murder Trial

Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Spanish authorities on the date for commencement of the trial of the two Venezuelan nationals accused of the murder of the constituents of the hon. Member for Clwyd, South, Tony and Linda O'Malley, in March 2003; and if he will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: We continue to take a close and active interest in the case of Mr. and Mrs. O'Malley's murder. This has included high-level representations at an early stage in the investigation. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary asked the Spanish Foreign Minister, Ana Palcio, on 9 April 2003 to ensure that DNA samples relating to the murder could be tested as soon as possible. My hon. Friend the former Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Office Affairs (Mr. MacShane) also raised the issues of the speeding up of forensic testing and repatriation of the deceased with the Spanish Minister for Europe, Ramon de Miguel on 6 June 2003.
	Spanish legal proceedings against the two Venezuelans accused of the murder are now under way. These differ significantly from a trial in the UK system. Since the proceedings began, we have not made representations to the Spanish authorities on any aspect of the case, as, under international law, we are unable to interfere in the judicial process of other countries. Our own judicial proceedings are similarly protected.

North Korea

Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the nuclear weapons capability of North Korea; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: The Government have, for some time, had serious concerns about the nuclear programme and nuclear weapons ambitions of the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). We take every opportunity to raise these concerns in our dealings with the DPRK Government.
	The Government assesses that the DPRK extracted sufficient plutonium in the early 1990s for up to two nuclear warheads and that it has the technical capability to weaponise this material. Since then, the DPRK claims to have extracted enough plutonium from its stock of fuel rods to manufacture several additional nuclear warheads. We also believe the DPRK is pursuing efforts towards production of highly enriched uranium.
	We call on the Government of North Korea to reconfirm its commitment to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, and to re-engage in discussions with the other participants of the 6 Party Talks process to achieve their objective peacefully through negotiation. We also continue to be gravely concerned about the human rights situation in North Korea and raise this regularly with the DPRK authorities at ministerial and official level.

UKvisas

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which organisations he has identified as competitors to UKvisas; and whether they are required to meet public service agreement targets.

Kim Howells: UKvisas is a joint Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Home Office Government Department responsible for administrating the UK immigration control overseas through the issue of entry clearance.
	Under the FCO public service agreement (PSA) UKvisas aims to provide an effective and efficient entry clearance service as measured by specific underlying targets. The UKvisas annual report for 2004 available on the UKvisas website, www.ukvisas.gov.uk, gives details of performance against targets.
	The UKvisas business plan available on the same website, details the specific underlying PSA targets for 2005–06. We review and compare our performance with that of other visa operations such as those of the USA, Australia and Schengen countries. Each may be subject to various performance-monitoring regimes by their governments.

Community Support Officers

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the community support officers the Government plans to recruit by 2008 he expects to be posted in Tamworth.

Hazel Blears: Community support officers (CSOs) are employed by police authorities, and their deployment is an operational matter for the chief constable. We are making funding available to help increase the number of CSOs to 24,000 by 2008. This investment will help deliver our commitment that by 2008 every area in England and Wales will have access to a dedicated, visible, accessible and responsive neighbourhood policing team.

Crime and Disorder Statistics

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many recorded offences of (a) violence against the person, (b) sexual offences, (c) robberies, (d) burglaries, (e) theft of a vehicle and (f) theft from a vehicle there have been in (i) Guildford and (ii) Waverley crime and disorder partnership areas in each year since 1998.

Hazel Blears: The available information relating to the Guildford and Waverley crime and disorder reduction partnership (CDRP) areas is given in the tables. Data at CDRP level are only available from 1999–2000.
	
		Table 1: Recorded crime in the Guildford crime and disorder reduction partnership area, 1999–2000 to 2001–02 Number of offences
		
			  1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 
		
		
			 Violence against the person 1,027 1,175 948 
			 Sexual offences 83 114 103 
			 Robbery 51 70 78 
			 Burglary in a dwelling 518 609 419 
			 Theft of a vehicle 555 556 455 
			 Theft from a vehicle 1,078 850 736 
		
	
	Note:
	The data in this table are prior to the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard. These figures are not directly comparable with those for later years.
	
		Table 2: Recorded crime in the Guildford Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership area, 2002–03 and 2003–04 Number of offences
		
			  2002–03 2003–04 
		
		
			 Violence against the person 1,196 1,555 
			 Sexual offences 95 93 
			 Robbery 69 93 
			 Burglary in a dwelling 529 495 
			 Theft of a vehicle 515 414 
			 Theft from a vehicle 865 786 
		
	
	Note:
	The data in this table take account of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for earlier years.
	
		Table 3: Recorded crime in the Waverley Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership area, 1999–2000 to 2001–02 Number of offences
		
			  1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 
		
		
			 Violence against the person 491 612 474 
			 Sexual offences 73 62 58 
			 Robbery 18 21 27 
			 Burglary in a dwelling 363 311 314 
			 Theft of a vehicle 219 198 299 
			 Theft from a vehicle 504 439 470 
		
	
	Note:
	The data in this table are prior to the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard. These figures are not directly comparable with those for later years.
	
		Table 4: Recorded crime in the Waverley Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership area, 2002–03 and 2003–04 Number of offences
		
			  2002–03 2003–04 
		
		
			 Violence against the person 628 825 
			 Sexual offences 60 54 
			 Robbery 22 30 
			 Burglary in a dwelling 359 289 
			 Theft of a vehicle 249 192 
			 Theft from a vehicle 524 519 
		
	
	Note:
	The data in this table take account of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for earlier years.

Criminal Records Bureau Checks

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many care home staff are awaiting clearance from the Criminal Records Bureau; how many care home staff were awaiting clearance in each of the last 18 months; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what the average waiting time is for a check to be carried out by the Criminal Records Bureau; and if he will make a statement.

Andy Burnham: The information requested regarding care home staff are not available. The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) is unable to provide information on Disclosure applications based on specific employment sectors. The CRB is planning enhancements to the Disclosure application form which will enable greater analysis in the future.
	Based on all applications issued in May 2005, the average waiting time expressed in days from receipt of a Disclosure application form to the issue of a Disclosure is 10.7 days for Standard Disclosures and 28.2 days for Enhanced Disclosures. This includes the time taken for applications that are returned to customers for further information. This provides an average waiting time of 26.3 days for all Disclosures issued in May 2005.
	However, it is worth stating that the average waiting time for 95 per cent. of Standard Disclosures was 7.6 days and 22 days for 95 per cent. of Enhanced Disclosures, resulting in an average waiting time of 20.2 days for 95 per cent. of all Disclosures, including the time spent with customers. The CRB has published service standards of issuing 93 per cent. of Standard Disclosures within two weeks and 90 per cent. of Enhanced Disclosures within four weeks. This service standard does not include the time taken for applications that are returned to customers.
	The CRB has consistently achieved the service standard for Standard Disclosures. For Enhanced Disclosures, where an additional check is performed by local police forces for any relevant non-conviction information, the CRB has over recent months failed to achieve the service standard. For May 2005, the CRB issued 88.9 per cent. of Enhanced Disclosures within four weeks.
	The CRB and the Association of Chief Police Officers are continuing to work together to improve the timeliness of the work conducted within all local police force Disclosure Units.

Drink-driving

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions for drink-driving resulted in custodial sentences in 2003, broken down by police authority.

Paul Goggins: Information taken from the Home Office Court Proceedings Database on convictions and custodial sentences for drink-driving offences by police force area in 2003 is given in the table.
	
		Findings of guilt and immediate custodial sentences at all courts for offences of driving etc. after consuming alcohol or taking drugs by police force area, 2003 Number of offences
		
			 Police force area Findings of guilt Immediate custody(11) 
		
		
			 Avon and Somerset 2,666 167 
			 Bedfordshire 1,072 72 
			 Cambridgeshire 933 56 
			 Cheshire 1,905 110 
			 Cleveland 981 61 
			 Cumbria 843 37 
			 Derbyshire 1,617 168 
			 Devon and Cornwall 2,667 121 
			 Dorset 1,264 73 
			 Durham 1,170 77 
			 Essex 2,622 311 
			 Gloucestershire 890 37 
			 Greater Manchester 4,743 437 
			 Hampshire 3,663 234 
			 Hertfordshire 1,904 78 
			 Humberside 1,445 150 
			 Kent 2,811 179 
			 Lancashire 2,652 146 
			 Leicestershire 1,725 143 
			 Lincolnshire 1,111 42 
			 London, City of 235 4 
			 Merseyside 2,687 215 
			 Metropolitan police 12,621 922 
			 Norfolk 1,274 59 
			 Northamptonshire 799 65 
			 Northumbria 2,747 187 
			 North Yorkshire 1,194 51 
			 Nottinghamshire 1,644 149 
			 South Yorkshire 2,089 125 
			 Staffordshire 1,733 141 
			 Suffolk 1,213 66 
			 Surrey 1,464 44 
			 Sussex 2,430 120 
			 Thames Valley 3,884 159 
			 Warwickshire 918 33 
			 West Mercia 1,797 100 
			 West Midlands 5,233 420 
			 West Yorkshire 3,720 260 
			 Wiltshire 1,031 62 
			 England 87,397 5,881 
			 Dyfed Powys 995 46 
			 Gwent 1,149 94 
			 North Wales 1,326 76 
			 South Wales 2,840 211 
			 Wales 6,310 427 
			 England and Wales 93,707 6,308 
		
	
	(11) Immediate Custody includes sentences of Detention and Training Order, Young Offender Institution and Unsuspended sentences of imprisonment.

Identity Cards

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the penalty will be for those unwilling to pay the £1,000 civil penalty for not obtaining an identity card.

Tony McNulty: Clause 6 of the Identity Cards Bill enables the Secretary of State to make an order imposing an obligation on individuals of a specified description to be entered in the Register. An individual could only be required to register once Parliament has agreed via a "super-affirmative" procedure to make registration compulsory. An individual who fails to register when required to do so under clause 6 will be liable to a civil penalty not exceeding £2,500.
	Where an individual fails to satisfy his obligations under clause 6 subsections (2) and (3), he is liable for a further civil penalty not exceeding £2,500 in respect of each time the Secretary of State gives him notice requiring him to make an application and he fails to do so before the set deadline.
	The Secretary of State must issue a code of practice setting out the matters that he will consider when determining the amount to be imposed by way of a civil penalty and before issuing the code, the Secretary of State must lay a draft of it before Parliament.
	The Secretary of State must have regard to the code when imposing a civil penalty or considering a notice of objection under clause 34.
	Clause 33 of the Bill sets out the requirements that apply to the Secretary of State when imposing a notice of a civil penalty. A person may object to the Secretary of State about the imposition of the civil penalty on the grounds that: he is not liable for it, that the circumstances of the contravention make the imposition of the penalty unreasonable or that the amount of the penalty is too high. This is set out in clause 34 of the Bill. A person may also appeal against the imposition of a civil penalty, as set out on clause 35 of the Bill, to the county court in England, Wales or Northern Ireland or to the Sheriff in Scotland.
	In the case of non-payment of a civil penalty the Secretary of State will enforce the debt through the civil courts.

Identity Cards

Dawn Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the penalties will be for UK residents who refuse to register for the proposed identity card.

Tony McNulty: An individual who refused to comply with the registration requirements when applying for a document designated under Clause 4 of the Identity Cards Bill (such as a passport) would not be issued with the designated document.
	Clause 6 of the Identity Cards Bill enables the Secretary of State to make an order imposing an obligation on individuals of a specified description to be entered in the Register. An individual could only be required to register once Parliament has agreed via a "super-affirmative" procedure to make registration compulsory. An individual who fails to register when required to do so under clause six will be liable to a civil penalty not exceeding £2,500.
	Where an individual fails to satisfy his obligations under clause 6 subsections (2) and (3), he is liable for a further civil penalty not exceeding £2,500 in respect of each time the Secretary of State gives him notice requiring him to make an application and he fails to do so before the set deadline.
	The Secretary of State must issue a code of practice setting out the matters that he will consider when determining the amount to be imposed by way of a civil penalty and before issuing the code, the Secretary of State must lay a draft of it before Parliament. The Secretary of State must have regard to the code when imposing a civil penalty or considering a notice of objection under clause 34.
	Clause 33 of the Bill sets out the requirements that apply to the Secretary of State when imposing a notice of a civil penalty. A person may object to the Secretary of State about the imposition of the civil penalty on the grounds that: he is not liable for it, that the circumstances of the contravention make the imposition of the penalty unreasonable or that the amount of the penalty is too high. This is set out in clause 34 of the Bill. A person may also appeal against the imposition of a civil penalty, as set out on clause 35 of the Bill, to the county court in England, Wales or Northern Ireland or to the Sheriff in Scotland.
	In the case of non-payment of a civil penalty the Secretary of State will enforce the debt through the civil courts.

Identity Cards

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the likely effects of identity cards on vulnerable groups in society.

Tony McNulty: We are taking close consideration of the needs of vulnerable groups in designing the requirements for the identity cards system.
	The Special Issues ID cards research conducted at the end of 2004 and the United Kingdom Passport Service biometric enrolment trial published in May 2005 have consulted a range of faith, race and nationality groups as well as stakeholders representing people with disabilities and disadvantaged groups (for example organisations representing blind people, deaf people, the elderly and physically and mentally disabled, transgender groups, Gypsies or the homeless).
	Consultations with groups representing more vulnerable groups in society will continue to ensure that their requirements are fed into the design of the scheme.

Identity Cards

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether there are plans to include (a) DNA and (b) medical records on the National Identity Register in the second stage of the identity cards process.

Tony McNulty: The Identity Cards Scheme is not proposing to use DNA as one of the biometric identifiers. Clause 43 of the Identity Cards Bill defines biometric information as data about a person's external characteristics, e.g. facial image, iris pattern or fingerprints and therefore excludes DNA. DNA is not included in the list of information at Schedule one of the Identity Cards Bill that may be held on the National Identity Register and there is no power under Clause five of the Bill (applications relating to entries in the Register) for the Secretary of State to require a person to provide a DNA sample.
	The Identity Cards Scheme is not proposing to include medical records on the National Identity Register. Clause one and Schedule one of the Identity Cards Bill sets out what information could be held on the Register. In general the storage of medical information on the Register would not be allowed by the Bill as medical information does not fall within the definition of registerable facts as set out in Clause 1(5) of the Bill.
	The Bill does allow for the storage of voluntary information with the consent of both the person who is registered and the Secretary of State.

Immigration and Asylum

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many failed asylum seekers were in receipt of section 4 support on (a) 1 January 2004, (b) 1 July 2004, (c) 1 December 2004, (d) 1 January 2005, (e) 1 February 2005 and (f) 1 March 2005.

Tony McNulty: The information is not available in the precise format requested. The information available is as follows:
	
		Number of people supported under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 broken down by region
		
			 Region Number supported as at 1 April 2005 1 
		
		
			 East Midlands 440 
			 East of England 25 
			 Greater London 475 
			 North East 320 
			 North West 965 
			 Scotland 100 
			 South East 40 
			 South West 185 
			 Wales 155 
			 West Midlands 1,140 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 1,335 
			 Total 5,180 
		
	
	(12) Numbers are provisional and rounded to nearest 5. As a consequence they may not sum due to rounding

Immigration and Asylum

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many failed asylum seekers are in receipt of section 4 support, broken down by (a) nationality, (b) regional location, (c) type of accommodation provided and (d) accommodation provider.

Tony McNulty: Information on the number of failed asylum seekers in receipt of support under section 4 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 1999 is provided in the table. Information on the nationality of those in receipt of support is not readily available and could be produced only by examination of individual records. Information on the type of accommodation provided by individual providers is provided in the table.
	
		List of section 4 accommodation providers and type of support provided
		
			   Name of provider Total number of asylum seekers including dependants supported 1Type of support provided 
		
		
			 M&Q 3,980 Accommodation and vouchers for food 
			 RCA 365 Accommodation and vouchers for food 
			 YMCA 180 Mixture of full board accommodation (including food) and accommodation only with vouchers for food 
			 Clearsprings 205 Accommodation and vouchers for food 
			 Angel 260 Mixture of full board accommodation (including food) and accommodation only with vouchers for food 
			 Caradon 195 Accommodation and vouchers for food 
			 Others 5 Accommodation and vouchers for food 
		
	
	(13) All figures are provisional and rounded to nearest 5. Figures may not sum due to rounding.
	
		Number of people supported under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 broken down by region
		
			 Region Number supported as at 1 April 2005 1 
		
		
			 East Midlands 440 
			 East of England 25 
			 Greater London 475 
			 North east 320 
			 North west 965 
			 Scotland 100 
			 South east 40 
			 South west 185 
			 Wales 155 
			 West Midlands 1,140 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 1,335 
			 Total 5,180 
		
	
	(14) Numbers are provisional and rounded to nearest 5. As a consequence they may not sum due to rounding.

Immigration and Asylum

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of measures he has taken to control (a) illegal immigration and (b) unfounded asylum claims.

Tony McNulty: We have already made significant improvements to border controls by expanding our juxtaposed controls, deploying new detection technology and increasing our airline liaison network overseas. This has had a significant impact both on deterring illegal immigration and reducing asylum intake.
	Recent measures to tackle unfounded asylum applications have been very successful—the number of claims (and unfounded claims) has reduced significantly since 2002. We are taking further steps to deal with this issue, as set out in the five year strategy for asylum and immigration, "Controlling our Borders: Making migration work for Britain" which was published in February 2005 [Cm 6472]. This includes plans to introduce faster, tightly-managed processes for all new asylum claimants and maintaining existing detained processes alongside new, faster, non- detained processes which are currently being developed and will be implemented in phases.

Interception of Communications

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many complaints have been made in relation to the interception of communications under (a) the Interception of Communications Act 1985 and (b) the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 for each year since such complaints have been permitted; and how many complaints were upheld in each year.

Hazel Blears: The information requested is as follows:
	(a) The records of the Interception of Communications Tribunal show that the number of complaints they received since its inception were as follows:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1985–86 (15)30 
			 1987 45 
			 1988 30 
			 1989 49 
			 1990 59 
			 1991 58 
			 1992 44 
			 1993 41 
			 1994 37 
			 1995 64 
			 1996 52 
			 1997 79 
			 1998 75 
			 1999 69 
			 2000–01 (16)60 
		
	
	(15) First year of operation
	(16) Last year of operation
	The Interception of Communications Tribunal found that there had been no contravention of sections 2 to 5 of IOCA. Consequently, no complaints were upheld.
	(b) The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), established under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), came into being on 2 October 2000. From that date the IPT assumed responsibility for the jurisdiction previously held by, amongst others, the Interception of Communications Tribunal.
	In his Annual Reports to the Prime Minister, the Interception of Communications Commissioner explained that complaints to the IPT could not be easily "categorised" under the three tribunal system that existed before RIPA (i.e. the Interception of Communications Tribunal, the Security Service Tribunal and the Intelligence Services Tribunal). Consequently it is not possible to detail the number of complaints lodged with the IPT that relate to the interception of communications that would have previously been considered by the Interception of Communications Tribunal.
	The total number of complaints received by the IPT are as follows:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 2000 (17)11 
			 2001 91 
			 2002 130 
			 2003 109 
			 2004 (18)— 
		
	
	(17) First three months of operation
	(18) Figures to be published soon in the Commissioner's Annual 2004 Report
	On no occasion did the Investigatory Powers Tribunal conclude that there had been a contravention of RIPA or the Human Rights Act 1998. Consequently, no complaints were upheld.
	The Investigatory Powers Tribunal, like the Interception of Communications Tribunal before it, is a wholly independent body made up of senior members of the legal profession.

Licensed Premises (Violent Crime)

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many violent offences committed in connection with licensed premises there were in each police area in each year from 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: The available information is for 2002–03 and 2003–04 and is given in the table. Information for earlier years is not currently available.
	These figures relate to violence recorded by the police rather than violence committed. Therefore they should not be taken as a complete illustration of the number of violent offences committed in connection with licensed premises.
	For example, in certain areas where alcohol-related violence is particularly prevalent, local police are more likely to police city centres on Friday and Saturday nights thus recording more incidents of violent offences committed in connection with licensed premises. If football-related violence is a problem, the choice to send police officers to the match will undoubtedly lead to more violent crime being recorded than if they did not attend. There are other examples, such as the pro-active policing of antisocial behaviour.
	
		Number of violent offences committed in connection with licensed premises by force for 2002–03 and 2003–04
		
			 Force 2002–03 2003–04 
		
		
			 Avon and Somerset 1,922 2,574 
			 Bedfordshire 693 762 
			 Cambridgeshire 584 750 
			 Cheshire 504 806 
			 Cleveland 588 1,615 
			 Cumbria 488 600 
			 Derbyshire n/a n/a 
			 Devon and Cornwall 2,960 3,580 
			 Dorset 813 752 
			 Durham n/a n/a 
			 Dyfed-Powys 584 816 
			 Essex n/a 1,756 
			 Gloucestershire 707 864 
			 Greater Manchester n/a 1,620 
			 Gwent 670 791 
			 Hampshire 1,717 2,417 
			 Hertfordshire 804 1,005 
			 Humberside 821 1,007 
			 Kent 551 813 
			 Lancashire 2,653 3,910 
			 Leicestershire 1,155 1,323 
			 Lincolnshire n/a 607 
			 London, City of 159 151 
			 Merseyside n/a n/a 
			 Metropolitan police n/a n/a 
			 Norfolk 521 540 
			 Northamptonshire 1,083 1,043 
			 Northumbria 1,850 1,767 
			 North Wales 963 967 
			 North Yorkshire n/a 1,124 
			 Nottinghamshire n/a n/a 
			 South Wales 3,140 2,895 
			 South Yorkshire 1,624 1,581 
			 Staffordshire 1,927 2,424 
			 Suffolk 808 993 
			 Surrey 562 794 
			 Sussex n/a n/a 
			 Thames Valley 1,960 2,146 
			 Warwickshire 839 932 
			 West Mercia n/a 882 
			 West Midlands 3,731 4,140 
			 West Yorkshire 3,327 2,017 
			 Wiltshire n/a 373 
		
	
	n/a = not available.

Offences Against the Person Act

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions there were under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, section 16 (as amended), for repeated threats to kill in (a) 2002, (b) 2003 and (c) 2004.

Hazel Blears: The data contained in the table gives the number of defendants proceeded against for "making threats to kill" under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, Section 16 (as amended), England and Wales 2002 to 2003.
	Statistics on court proceedings for 2004 will be published in the autumn.
	
		Number of defendants proceeded against for "making threats to kill" under Offences Against the Person Act 1861, section 16(as amended) 1England and Wales 2002 to 2003
		
			  Proceeded against 
		
		
			 2002 3,462 
			 2003 3,721 
		
	
	(19) These data are on the principal offence basis.

Overseas Corruption

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many allegations are on the register of allegations of overseas corruption held by the National Criminal Intelligence Service.

Hazel Blears: The National Criminal Intelligence Service currently has 44 referrals on the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act register.

Police

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many attacks there have been on police officers in each of the last five years, broken down by police authority; how many people have been successfully prosecuted for carrying out such attacks; how many prosecutions are ongoing; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: holding answer 15 June 2005
	The available information relates to offences of assault on a constable. Table l gives the number of offences recorded by the police by police force area for 1999–2000 to 2003–04. Because of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002, figures before and after that date are not directly comparable.
	Table 2 gives the number of persons found guilty of such offences and covers the period 1999 to 2000.
	Because recorded crime data relates to offences and court proceedings data relates to defendants, the two datasets are not directly comparable.
	
		Table 1: Recorded offences of assault on a constable, England and Wales 1999–2000 to 2003–04 Number of offences
		
			 Police force area 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 1 2003–04 
		
		
			 Avon and Somerset 305 312 319 405 534 
			 Bedfordshire 258 210 241 343 313 
			 Cambridgeshire 216 238 251 281 260 
			 Cheshire 522 483 554 617 724 
			 Cleveland 93 133 206 314 236 
			 Cumbria 212 145 204 181 183 
			 Derbyshire 610 571 634 848 399 
			 Devon and Cornwall 628 646 646 671 430 
			 Dorset 270 287 403 494 330 
			 Durham 1,032 1,077 1,248 1,078 181 
			 Dyfed-Powys 266 261 308 344 225 
			 Essex 410 352 352 498 578 
			 Gloucestershire 252 261 206 275 191 
			 Greater Manchester 1,891 1,905 1,972 2,016 796 
			 Gwent 530 641 505 595 316 
			 Hampshire 578 636 688 976 1,008 
			 Hertfordshire 257 304 387 449 702 
			 Humberside 523 509 538 754 439 
			 Kent 722 620 635 851 755 
			 Lancashire 973 1,239 1,366 1,536 814 
			 Leicestershire 213 315 337 447 432 
			 Lincolnshire 223 178 218 281 160 
			 London, City of 37 30 39 45 34 
			 Merseyside 1,237 1,429 1,361 1,651 979 
			 Metropolitan police 1,401 1,367 1,269 1,908 2,796 
			 Norfolk 457 405 439 549 444 
			 Northamptonshire 392 331 305 353 305 
			 Northumbria 1,018 1,171 1,176 1,608 588 
			 North Wales 298 445 434 550 246 
			 North Yorkshire 508 426 449 582 274 
			 Nottinghamshire 433 477 543 452 509 
			 South Wales 720 868 893 1032 700 
			 South Yorkshire 756 923 785 689 434 
			 Staffordshire 690 748 661 792 525 
			 Suffolk 245 255 297 362 321 
			 Surrey 209 266 223 288 413 
			 Sussex 760 891 1,120 1,089 625 
			 Thames Valley 826 802 1,254 1,527 709 
			 Warwickshire 286 258 259 310 233 
			 West Mercia 640 587 768 845 523 
			 West Midlands 2,606 3,234 3,811 2,817 360 
			 West Yorkshire 1,388 1,488 1,503 1,695 634 
			 Wiltshire 224 276 288 345 269 
			 Total 26,115 28,000 30,095 33,743 21,927 
		
	
	(20) The National Crime Recording Standard was introduced in April 2005. Because of this, figures before and after that date are not directly comparable.
	
		Table 2: Defendants found guilty at all courts for assault on a constable(21), by police force area—England and Wales, 1999–2003 2 Number
		
			 Police force area 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 
		
		
			 Avon and Somerset 158 172 208 174 257 
			 Bedfordshire 57 54 52 59 88 
			 Cambridgeshire 75 71 72 74 88 
			 Cheshire 110 112 103 101 137 
			 City of London 6 8 9 10 11 
			 Cleveland 39 42 59 64 90 
			 Cumbria 68 53 59 55 91 
			 Derbyshire 148 124 122 140 181 
			 Devon and Cornwall 206 202 197 191 236 
			 Dorset 56 79 67 96 111 
			 Durham 105 110 119 117 105 
			 Essex 120 129 124 179 222 
			 Gloucestershire 90 85 83 71 66 
			 Greater Manchester 298 309 292 302 371 
			 Hampshire 293 262 239 303 386 
			 Hertfordshire 78 75 87 101 159 
			 Humberside 111 122 85 116 143 
			 Kent 223 217 180 228 281 
			 Lancashire 243 246 243 263 257 
			 Leicestershire 105 108 117 113 157 
			 Lincolnshire 39 46 75 68 66 
			 Merseyside 156 181 200 206 290 
			 Metropolitan police 737 755 682 778 1,054 
			 Norfolk 120 94 128 121 130 
			 North Yorkshire 76 73 61 80 86 
			 Northamptonshire 74 81 52 54 72 
			 Northumbria 205 233 233 200 250 
			 Nottinghamshire 147 142 144 120 128 
			 South Yorkshire 118 131 134 130 175 
			 Staffordshire(23) 151  124 130 147 
			 Suffolk 58 60 65 84 117 
			 Surrey 69 83 78 100 113 
			 Sussex 152 160 169 164 192 
			 Thames Valley 121 114 105 124 126 
			 Warwickshire 44 51 59 54 54 
			 West Mercia 140 131 145 134 156 
			 West Midlands 351 345 413 442 425 
			 West Yorkshire 160 161 131 154 210 
			 Wiltshire 92 66 78 66 115 
			 Dyfed-Powys 102 90 104 92 82 
			 Gwent 146 152 126 133 110 
			 North Wales 97 79 79 79 96 
			 South Wales 173 197 201 238 253 
			 Total 6,117 6,152 6,103 6,508 7,884 
		
	
	(21) Offence includes assault on a constable under the Police Act 1996 Sec. 89(1) as well as offences against similar provisions in local acts.
	(22) These data are on a principal offence basis.
	(23) Staffordshire police force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates' courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table.

Police

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to ensure West Mercia police force continues to patrol the parish of Pontesbury, Shropshire.

Hazel Blears: The deployment of patrolling officers is an operational matter for the chief constable of West Mercia police force.
	The Government supports visible and accessible policing and has made a commitment that by 2008, every area in England and Wales will benefit from dedicated neighbourhood policing teams. These teams will provide a responsive police presence in rural and urban areas.

Prisons (Staff Vacancies)

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff vacancies there were at each (a) prison and (b) young offenders institution on 31 December (i) 2002, (ii) 2003 and (iii) 2004; and if he will make a statement.

Fiona Mactaggart: Information on staff vacancies against operational staffing requirement at 31 December 2002, 2003 and 2004 for each public sector prison establishment is contained in the table. Operational posts are highlighted separately within the table. The figures represent a snapshot of the staffing position in establishments. Details about levels of vacancies within privately managed establishments are not routinely collected and are therefore not included in the table.
	The Service has had considerable success in filling posts over the past three years and shortfalls among operational staff over the past three years have fallen steadily. To cover vacancies in the short-term certain establishments are allowing officers to work additional hours as part of the 'Contracted Supplementary Hours Scheme'. This scheme contributed the equivalent of 463 full-time officers at 31 December 2004. At that time the total operational staff availability was 25,383 compared with an operational staffing requirement of 25,704, resulting in a Service-wide shortfall of just 1.2 per cent., well within an acceptable operating margin.
	Staffing levels in non-operational roles are more fluid and vacancy figures reflect a number of reviews taking place across the Prison Service and work to introduce greater efficiencies. This led to decisions to leave posts unfilled.
	
		
			  31 December 2002 31 December 2003 31 December 2004 
			 Establishment Officers and operational managers Other staff Officers and operational managers Other staff Officers and operational managers Other staff 
		
		
			 Acklington 27 — — — 2 — 
			 Albany 9 — — — 5 3 
			 Ashwell 13 15 7 11 4 — 
			 Askham Grange 1 — 1 5 — — 
			 Aylesbury 9 — 15 — 5 1 
			 Bedford 24 — 5 3 17 10 
			 Belmarsh 37 33 34 21 36 32 
			 Birmingham 13 7 17 4 21 19 
			 Blakenhurst 1 6 5 — 3 9 
			 Blantyre House 1 1 — — — 3 
			 Blundeston 8 5 1 — 1 13 
			 Brinsford 6 — 10 1 20 16 
			 Bristol 33 21 19 — 10 4 
			 Brixton 1 26 9 8 3 — 
			 Brockhill 3 8 5 13 3 12 
			 Buckley Hall 4 — 8 — — 3 
			 Bullingdon 10 3 27 27 26 31 
			 Bullwood Hall 17 1 10 — 10 — 
			 Camp Hill 8 — 10 13 — — 
			 Canterbury — — — 5 — 11 
			 Cardiff 8 3 7 6 — 8 
			 Castington 15 4 16 — 10 — 
			 Channings Wood 2 — 6 — — — 
			 Chelmsford 12 — 15 16 9 5 
			 Coldingley — 5 — — 3 4 
			 Cookham Wood 14 2 5 — 2 — 
			 Dartmoor — 2 1 1 6 2 
			 Deerbolt — — 6 2 — 26 
			 Dorchester 2 — 3 1 — — 
			 Dover 5 13 3 13 4 13 
			 Downview 16 — 21 5 14 2 
			 Drake Hall 8 — 5 — 4 4 
			 Durham 3 — 6 — — — 
			 East Sutton Park — 1 — — — 2 
			 Eastwood Park 14 3 8 8 9 32 
			 Edmunds Hill 7 29 5 21 17 23 
			 Elmley 1 17 — — — 23 
			 Erlestoke 19 13 8 4 9 7 
			 Everthorpe 1 2 — — — — 
			 Exeter 34 21 2 11 — 5 
			 Featherstone 1 6 1 5 2 15 
			 Feltham 70 35 50 31 70 6 
			 Ford 3 4 6 10 6 6 
			 Foston Hall 1 — 1 8 10 8 
			 Frankland 19 — — — 24 13 
			 Full Sutton 6 1 11 5 9 25 
			 Garth 3 4 7 — 5 1 
			 Gartree — — 7 — 3 14 
			 Glen Parva 14 12 10 19 3 24 
			 Gloucester 6 — 6 — 8 13 
			 Grendon 20 11 6 3 7 — 
			 Guys Marsh 5 — 6 — 4 4 
			 Haslar — — 1 1 1 — 
			 Haverigg 6 2 4 3 5 8 
			 Hewell Grange — 6 1 — 1 3 
			 High Down 30 17 27 — 5 15 
			 Highpoint 9 — 5 1 5 15 
			 Hindley 29 11 15 3 16 12 
			 Hollesley Bay - - 1 2 5 10 
			 Holloway 49 14 - 17 23 3 
			 Holme House 9 — 7 10 10 13 
			 Hull 9 — 4 10 5 15 
			 Huntercombe — 6 1 2 19 22 
			 Kingston 1 1 — 6 3 — 
			 Kirkham — 3 5 8 1 11 
			 Kirklevington Grange — — — 5 — 2 
			 Lancaster 8 — 2 — 2 4 
			 Lancaster Farms 7 20 25 — 8 7 
			 Latchmere House 3 5 1 1 3 4 
			 Leeds — 8 4 — — — 
			 Leicester — 4 5 — 14 — 
			 Lewes 12 8 4 13 4 12 
			 Leyhill 4 6 3 20 4 17 
			 Lincoln 10 17 15 11 9 11 
			 Lindholme 5 — 4 — — — 
			 Littlehey 7 10 12 22 10 21 
			 Liverpool 5 — — 17 5 15 
			 Long Lartin 14 3 17 6 14 23 
			 Low Newton 16 11 5 11 6 1 
			 Maidstone 3 — — 2 — 20 
			 Manchester 3 — 41 30 41 22 
			 Moorland — — — — — — 
			 Morton Hall 5 4 2 5 3 9 
			 New Hall 20 11 19 17 4 6 
			 North Sea Camp 1 4 3 — 5 11 
			 Northallerton — 1 — — 1 9 
			 Norwich 5 9 14 8 10 10 
			 Nottingham — — 4 1 — — 
			 Onley 18 16 11 — 12 27 
			 Parkhurst 12 11 6 — 13 — 
			 Pentonville 9 — 24 — 1 — 
			 Portland 21 7 6 7 8 9 
			 Preston — — 9 — 6 — 
			 Ranby — — 2 — 7 — 
			 Reading 3 1 7 4 1 1 
			 Risley 24 — 5 6 14 2 
			 Rochester 4 — 23 7 — 6 
			 Send 13 10 5 9 13 11 
			 Shepton Mallet 1 1 — 3 — 5 
			 Shrewsbury 1 — 6 — 6 — 
			 Stafford 4 — — — 2 — 
			 Standford Hill 13 10 4 1 3 9 
			 Stocken — — 2 7 6 10 
			 Stoke Heath 12 — 3 — 17 11 
			 Styal 11 27 5 32 — 17 
			 Sudbury — 1 — 1 1 8 
			 Swaleside 7 — 11 2 — 3 
			 Swansea 4 — 1 — 7 14 
			 Swinfen Hall 2 5 4 — 12 16 
			 The Mount 7 1 15 11 16 11 
			 The Verne — — — — — — 
			 Thorn Cross 8 — 8 — 9 6 
			 Usk/Prescoed 7 2 6 9 — — 
			 Wakefield — 3 17 10 — 19 
			 Wandsworth — — 5 2 19 6 
			 Warren Hill 146 127 11 7 9 4 
			 Wayland 2 — — 4 4 7 
			 Wealstun 5 — — 1 — 7 
			 Weare 2 1 1 — 7 4 
			 Wellingborough 7 13 5 6 32 37 
			 Werrington 7 8 5 3 1 4 
			 Wetherby 6 — 4 1 15 2 
			 Whatton 8 6 8 1 — 12 
			 Whitemoor 60 29 28 38 11 57 
			 Winchester 1 — — 37 1 8 
			 Woodhill 50 26 31 39 10 31 
			 Wormwood Scrubs 26 29 21 — — 6 
			 Wymott 4 — 37 53 13 25 
			 Total 1,289 814 978 792 903 —

Race Relations

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements are in place to ensure that bodies within the responsibility of his Department comply with the requirements of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.

Paul Goggins: The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 places a general duty on Government Departments to have regard to the need to (a) eliminate unlawful racial discrimination; and (b) promote equality of opportunity and good relations between persons of different racial groups. The general duty also applies to a large number of specified public authorities.
	The Home Secretary has also made Orders under the Act to place the "specific duties" on named public authorities. The list of bodies subject to the general and specific duties is updated periodically in consultation with the Commission for Racial Equality and other Government Departments. One of these specific duties is to produce a Race Equality Scheme that sets out their arrangements for complying with the Act.
	The Home Office published its revised race equality scheme on 26 May 2005. In addition to the legislative requirements the scheme also sets out key challenges, objectives and targets on race equality. The Home Office race equality scheme encompasses a number of associate schemes such as the Prison Service, United Kingdom Passport Service and National Probation Directorate and includes the associate race equality scheme for Her Majesty's inspectorate of constabulary. The Home Office will continue to ensure that other public bodies comply with the Race Relations (Amendment) Act.

Speed Cameras

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was raised in fines from speed cameras in the Humberside area in each of the past three years.

Paul Goggins: Information on the revenue raised from speed offences detected by camera is not available.
	However the table shows, for the Humberside police force area, the number of fixed penalties ordered to be paid and the number of court fines for such offences in the calendar years 2001 to 2003 (latest available). Information for 2004 is not yet available.
	Not all fines and fixed penalties will have been paid.
	
		Fixed penalty and court proceedings data for speeding offences detected by cameras(25) within the Humberside police force area, 2001, 2002 and 2003 2 Number of offences
		
			  Fixed Penalties Court Proceedings(27) 
			  Number of tickets(28) Estimated revenue(29) (£) Number of fines Total amount of fine (£) Average fine (£) 
		
		
			 2001(30) 13,600 816,200 15 3,150 210 
			 2002(31) 5,300 320,100 11 1,650 150 
			 2003(26) 23,800 1,426,000 10 1,300 127 
		
	
	(25) Offences under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and The Motor Vehicles (Speed Limits on Motorways) Regulations 1973.
	(26) Humberside police joined the Safety Camera Funding Scheme in 2003.
	(27) Includes cases where fixed penalty notices were originally issued but not paid and subsequently referred to court.
	(28) Only covers tickets paid where there is no further action.
	(29) Estimate based on £60 fixed penalty charge.
	(30) A single month's shortfall was found for court proceedings summary motoring offences within Humberside police force in 2001.
	(31) Includes six months fixed penalty notice data only.

Under-age Sales Prosecutions

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many businesses were prosecuted for selling (a) alcohol, (b) glue products and (c) fireworks to people under age in (i) Brent East and (ii) each London borough in each of the last five years.

Hazel Blears: The available information is contained in the tables and gives the number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates' courts/London borough, 1999 to 2003 for: selling alcohol and fireworks to persons underage. There were no prosecutions as notified to the Home Office Court Proceedings for retailers supplying intoxicating substances to persons under 18.
	Statistics on court proceedings for 2004 will be published in the autumn.
	
		Number of defendants(32) proceeded against at magistrates courts for "selling alcohol to persons underage"(33), by magistrates courts/London borough, 1999 to 2003
		
			 Magistrate courts/borough 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 
		
		
			 Inner London magistrates' courts  
			 City of London Police  
			 Guildhall Justice Rooms — — — — — 
			   
			 Metropolitan police  
			 Bow Street 3 — — — — 
			 Camberwell Green/Tower Bridge — — — — — 
			 Greenwich and Woolwich — — — 1 1 
			 Highbury Corner — — — — — 
			 Horseferry Road — — — — 3 
			 Marylebone — — — — — 
			 South Western — — — — — 
			 Thames — — — — — 
			 West London — — 2 — — 
			   
			 Outer London boroughs  
			 Metropolitan Police  
			 Barking and Dagenham — — — — 2 
			 Barnet — — — 1 3 
			 Bexley — 1 — — 4 
			 Brent — — — 3 2 
			 Bromley — — 1 1 — 
			 Croydon — — — — — 
			 Ealing — — — — — 
			 Enfield — — — — 10 
			 Haringey — — — — 43 
			 Harrow 4 — — — 4 
			 Havering — 1 — — 9 
			 Hillingdon 2 — — — 13 
			 Hounslow — — — — — 
			 Kingston-upon-Thames — — — 3 1 
			 Merton — — — — — 
			 Newham 1 — — — — 
			 Redbridge 2 — — 1 4 
			 Richmond upon Thames — — — 1 3 
			 Sutton 3 — 16 1 1 
			 Waltham Forest — — — — 10 
			   
			 Total Metropolitan Police 15 2 19 12 113 
			   
			 Total Greater London 15 2 19 12 113 
		
	
	(32) These data are on the principal offence basis.
	(33) Includes: "Selling intoxicating liquor to persons under 18 for consumption on the premises" and "Wholesaler selling intoxicating liquor to person under 18".

Vehicle Recovery Costs

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many vehicles were recovered by police forces in each of the last 10 years; and at what cost; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: Information on stolen vehicles recovered ceased to be collected from 2001–02. Prior to that date the available figures were published annually in chapter 2 of the Command Paper "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales". Copies of the all the relevant publications are available in the Library.
	Information is not collected centrally on the cost of recovery of stolen vehicles.

Zimbabwe

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the Government will implement the UNHCR's recommendation for states to suspend all removals to Zimbabwe.

Tony McNulty: Asylum and human rights claims by Zimbabwean nationals are considered on their individual merits in accordance with our obligations under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). As with any other nationality, Zimbabweans who meet the definition of a refugee in the 1951 Convention are granted asylum. If they do not qualify for asylum, but there are other circumstances that make them particularly vulnerable and engage our obligations under the ECHR, they are granted humanitarian protection or discretionary leave. If their application is refused, they have a right of appeal to the independent Asylum and Immigration Tribunal. In this way we ensure that we provide protection to those Zimbabweans who need it.
	Each application is considered against the background of the latest available country information from a wide range of reliable sources including international organisations, non-governmental organisations and the media. In addition, we are in continual dialogue with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office about country conditions in Zimbabwe.
	Asylum decisions are based on the circumstances of the individual claimant and, while we are aware of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' advice based on a general assessment of conditions in Zimbabwe, that does not mean that it would be unsafe for failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers to return to Zimbabwe. Where it is clear that there are Zimbabweans in need of international protection and the asylum system will continue to provide that, but if an asylum and human rights claim is refused, and any appeal to the independent Asylum and Immigration Tribunal is unsuccessful, that means that it would be safe for that particular individual to return to Zimbabwe.

Abortion

Bob Laxton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been given in grants to support abortion clinics outside the NHS in each of the last five years.

Caroline Flint: The Department has not provided any grants to approved independent sector abortion clinics in the last five years. Primary care trusts (PCTs) are responsible for providing reproductive health services which meet the needs of their local populations. Some may choose to contract services with the independent sector. No information is collected centrally on PCT expenditure on the provision of abortion services in non-national health service settings.

Asthma

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) adults and (b) children in Burntwood, Lichfield and Tamworth primary care trust have been recorded as suffering from asthma in each year since 1997.

Rosie Winterton: The information is not available in the requested format. However, information relating to the number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) for the Burntwood, Lichfield and Tamworth primary care trust (PCT) area are shown in the tables. The data is split into age groups: 0 to 17 years—children and 18 years and over—adult.
	
		Count of FCEs for asthma (ICD-10 Codes = J45, J46), PCT of residence—Burntwood, Lichfield and Tamworth. Data years: 1997–98 to 2003–04 Table 1. Primary diagnosis count of episodes where asthma is the primary diagnosis
		
			  Age group 
			  0–17 years 18 years and over 
		
		
			 1997–98 143 171 
			 1998–99 83 137 
			 1999–2000 100 140 
			 2000–01 86 106 
			 2001–02 98 135 
			 2002–03 75 104 
			 2003–04 68 129 
		
	
	
		Table 2. Primary diagnosis count of episodes where asthma is mentioned in any of the primary or secondary diagnosis fields.
		
			  Age group 
			  0–17 years 18 years and over 
		
		
			 1997–98 177 320 
			 1998–99 124 273 
			 1999–2000 133 330 
			 2000–01 145 331 
			 2001–02 119 400 
			 2002–03 102 389 
			 2003–04 104 423 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. A FCE is defined as a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. Please note that the figures do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the year.
	2. Hospital episode statistics (HES) are compiled from data sent by over 300 national health service trusts and PCTs in England. The Health and Social Care Information Centre liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data via HES processes. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain.
	3. The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 14 (seven prior to 2002–03) diagnosis fields in the HES data set and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital.
	4. As well as the primary diagnosis, there are up to 13 (six prior to 2002–03) secondary diagnosis fields in HES that show other diagnoses relevant to the episode of care.
	5. "All Diagnoses count of episodes" figures represent a count of all FCE's where the diagnosis was mentioned in any of the 14 (seven prior to 2002–03) diagnosis fields in a HES record.
	6. Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data, that is the data is ungrossed.
	Source:
	HES, Health and Social Care Information Centre.

Childhood Leukaemia (Power Lines)

Janet Dean: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what plans she has to fund research projects into whether electromagnetic fields are a cause of childhood leukaemia;
	(2)  what advice she is giving to (a) other Government Departments and (b) local authorities with regard to the construction of new homes and schools in the vicinity of overhead power lines following publication of the Draper Report.

Caroline Flint: The Department provides funding under its radiation protection research programme for investigating the potential biological and health effects of electromagnetic fields at power frequencies. The work by Dr. Draper and colleagues on leukaemia and distance from power lines, recently published in the British Medical Journal, was funded under this programme (BMJ Vol. 330, 4 June 2005). The Department, together with the Health and Safety Executive, has also supported the World Health Organization (WHO) electromagnetic fields project since 1997. The WHO is due to review the health risks from power frequency fields later this year. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has statutory responsibilities to advise on health risks from electromagnetic exposure and undertakes its own research to support this advice.
	In 2004, on the basis of a comprehensive review of the existing body of research to date, the HPA's radiation protection division, previously the National Radiological Protection Board, recommended that in view of the scientific uncertainties the Government "consider the need for further precautionary measures" in relation to power frequency electromagnetic fields. It has also noted that the majority of higher magnetic fields are due to variations in the electricity supply and distribution system, the presence of substations and equipment in the home rather than proximity to power lines. Practical precautionary measures are now being considered in detail by a stakeholder group that includes Government Departments, agencies, the electricity industry, specialists and public concern groups. The latest work by Dr. Draper has increased the interest in these issues but the complex nature of the scientific and social issues mean that no immediate decisions will be made.

Childhood Leukaemia (Power Lines)

Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action she is taking following the findings of the Draper report on the relationship between childhood leukaemia and proximity to high voltage power lines.

Caroline Flint: The recent publication by Dr. Draper and colleagues on leukaemia and distance from power lines have reinforced the need for continued departmental support for research into the causes of leukaemia and the role of electromagnetic fields (EMF). Measurements of EMF will be included in the next phase of Dr. Draper's work. The Department, together with the Health and Safety Executive, is continuing to fund the World Health Organisation (WHO) EMF project that started in 1997. The WHO is due to review the health risks from power frequency fields later this year.
	The Health Protection Agency's (HPA) radiation protection division (RPD), which have statutory responsibilities to advise on health risks from electromagnetic field exposure, also undertakes research in support of its advice. In 2004, the HPA-RPD, when it was the National Radiological Protection Board, published a comprehensive scientific review in support of its new EMF guidelines. It recommended that, in view of the scientific uncertainties in relation to power frequency EMF, the Government should
	"consider the need for further precautionary measures".
	The HPA have also noted that the majority of higher magnetic fields are due to variations in the electricity supply and distribution system, the presence of substations and equipment in the home rather than proximity to power lines.
	In addition to funding research, therefore, the Department is leading a stakeholder group to consider practical precautionary measures. The group includes Government departments, agencies, the electricity industry, specialists and public concern groups. The latest work by Dr. Draper has increased the interest in these issues but the complex nature of the scientific and social issues mean that no immediate decisions will be made.

Childhood Leukaemia (Power Lines)

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what research her Department has carried out into (a) the causes of childhood leukaemia and (b) whether there is a link with electromagnetic fields;
	(2)  what assessment she has made of whether there is a link between electricity pylons and cancer in children; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: The Department provides funding under its radiation protection research programme for investigating the potential biological and health effects of electromagnetic fields at power frequencies. The work by Dr. Draper and colleagues on leukaemia and distance from power lines, recently published in the British Medical Journal, was funded under this programme (BMJ Vol. 330, 4 June 2005). Electromagnetic field measurements will be included in the next phase of this study.
	Details of other research concerned with childhood leukaemia supported by the National Cancer Research Institute's 15 partners, the largest Government and charitable funders of cancer research in the United Kingdom, can be found on the international cancer research portfolio database at www.cancerportfolio.org/faq.jsicrp.
	The Department, together with the Health and Safety Executive, has supported the World Health Organization (WHO) electromagnetic fields project since 1997. The WHO is due to review the health risks from power frequency fields later this year. The Health Protection Agency (HPA), which has statutory responsibilities to advise on health risks from electromagnetic exposure, undertakes its own research to support this advice.
	In 2004, on the basis of a comprehensive review of the existing body of research to date, the HPA's radiation protection division, previously the National Radiological Protection Board, recommended that, in view of the scientific uncertainties, the Government
	"consider the need for further precautionary measures"
	in relation to power frequency electromagnetic fields. It has also noted that the majority of higher magnetic fields are due to variations in the electricity supply and distribution system, the presence of substations and equipment in the home, rather than proximity to power lines. Practical precautionary measures are now being considered in detail by a stakeholder group that includes Government Departments, agencies, the electricity industry, specialists and public concern groups. The latest work by Dr. Draper has increased the interest in these issues but the complex nature of the scientific and social issues mean that no immediate decisions will be made.

Dentistry

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  pursuant to the statement by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health on 7 June 2005, Official Report, column 114WH, on NHS dentistry, whether all those people registered as NHS patients at Robinsons dental practice will be able to migrate to the Whitecross dental care practice; and when the Whitecross dental practice will be operating with five full-time dentists;
	(2)  pursuant to the statement by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health on 7 June 2005, Official Report, column 114WH, on NHS dentistry, what the conclusions were of the meeting between local practitioners and her Department on 8th June.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 14 June 2005
	The meeting between officials in the Department and the South and East Dorset Primary Care Trust (PCT) on June 8 2005 was positive. A number of applications for local practitioners to move to personal dental services (PDS) pilot contracts were reviewed, including the establishment of new practices. The applications for two of the new practices were subsequently agreed by the Department on June 10 2005, including the application for the new Whitecross dental practice in Christchurch. The two new practices will include a total of nine new full-time national health service dentists, delivering care to 22,500 patients. The PCT has assured me that all patients currently registered as NHS patients at the Robinsons dental practice will be able to transfer to the new Whitecross dental practice in Christchurch when it becomes operational in August 2005.

Diabetes

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much Government funding has been allocated to research into the causes of diabetes in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: The main agency through which the Government supports medical and clinical research is the Medical Research Council (MRC). The MRC is an independent body, funded by the Department of Trade and Industry via the Office of Science and Technology.
	The MRC does not normally allocate funds to particular topics. Research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. When appropriate, high quality research in particular areas of strategic importance may be given priority in competition for funds, but research excellence and importance to health continues to be the primary considerations in funding decisions. The MRC always welcomes high quality applications for support into any aspect of human health and these are judged in open competition with other demands on funding.
	MRC expenditure on research concerned with diabetes since 1999 1 is shown in table 1.
	1 A composite figure for 2003–04 is not yet available.
	
		Table 1
		
			  £ million 
			  Amount 
		
		
			 1999–2000 6.5 
			 2000–01 8.6 
			 2001–02 9.8 
			 2002–03 11.4 
		
	
	Over 75 per cent. of the Department's total expenditure on health research is devolved to and managed by national health service organisations. Table 2 shows NHS-reported spending from this funding in support of diabetes 1 .
	1 This data was not collected centrally prior to 2001.
	
		Table 2
		
			  £ million 
			  Amount 
		
		
			 2001–02 13.9 
			 2002–03 17.5 
			 2003–04 18.2

Health Finance (Oxfordshire)

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what reports she has received of financial difficulties facing health trusts in Oxfordshire; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: holding answer 16 June 2005
	There have been no representations from Oxfordshire national health service trusts about financial difficulties. Oxfordshire health trusts all submitted balanced delivery plans.
	It is now the responsibility of strategic health authorities to deliver both overall financial balance for their local health communities and to ensure the local NHS achieves financial balance.

Heart Disease (Children)

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children have been treated for heart disease; how many have been screened for signs of heart defects; and how many children have died from heart-related conditions in each of the last five years.

Liam Byrne: Table 1 following shows numbers of admissions for cardiac conditions for children under 16 in England in the last five years for which data is available.
	
		Table 1
		
			  Admissions 
		
		
			 1999–2000 2,125 
			 2000–01 2,089 
			 2001–02 2,232 
			 2002–03 2,312 
			 2003–04 2,475 
		
	
	Source:
	Hospital episode statistics, Health and Social Care Information Centre. Figures are for cardiac conditions as a primary diagnosis. Patients may have more than one admission in a year.
	No data is available on screening of children for signs of heart defects.
	Table 2 following shows the latest available data on child deaths from heart-related conditions. In this table, children are defined as those under 16 years old, including neonates.
	
		Table 2
		
			  Deaths 
		
		
			 1999 872 
			 2000 781 
			 2001 667 
			 2002 621 
			 2003 663 
		
	
	Source:
	Office of National Statistics mortality data. Figures are for all deaths in England and Wales where heart disease is mentioned in the death certificate and include congenital malformations.

NHS Finance

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the (a) Thames Valley strategic health authority, (b) Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust, (c) Wycombe Primary Care Trust, (d) Buckinghamshire Mental Health Trust and (e) Two Shires Ambulance Trust is in (i) surplus and (ii) deficit; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: The latest year for which audited data on the financial position of national health service organisations is available is 2003–04. The financial position for Thames Valley strategic health authority (SHA), Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Wycombe primary care trust (PCT), Buckinghamshire Mental Health Trust and Two Shires Ambulance Trust is shown in the table.
	
		Financial position of NHS organisations for 2003–04
		
			 Organisation Underspend (Overspend) 
		
		
			 Thames Valley SHA 4,221,000 — 
			 Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust — (5,237,000) 
			 Wycombe PCT 536,000 — 
			 Buckinghamshire Mental Health Trust — (1,689,000) 
			 Two Shires Ambulance NHS Trust 3,000 —

Prescription Charges

David Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations she has received on establishing more exemptions from prescription charges for patients with long-term conditions.

Jane Kennedy: Representations received since 1 January 2005 have been identified in respect of the following long-term conditions:
	Alzheimer's disease/dementia
	Arthritis
	Asthma
	Cancer
	Coeliac
	Crohn's disease
	Cystic fibrosis
	Foot conditions
	Hearing impairment
	Heart condition
	Hormone replacement treatment
	Hypertension
	Impotence
	Kidney transplants
	Klinefelter syndrome
	Lupus
	Mental health (various)
	Multiple sclerosis
	Optical and dental care
	Pancreatitis (chronic)
	Spina bifida
	Thrombosis
	Turner's syndrome
	Ulcerative colitis.

Sudden Cardiac Deaths

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of sudden cardiac death were reported in Gloucestershire in the last year for which figures are available; and how many were people aged (a) under 18, (b) 19 to 25 and (c) 26 to 35 years.

John Healey: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Len Cook to Mr. David Drew, dated 20 June 2005
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many cases of sudden cardiac deaths were reported in Gloucestershire in the last year for which figures are available; and how many were people were aged (a) under 18, (b) 19 to 35 and (c) 26 to 35 years. (4343)
	It is not possible to provide reliable figures on the number of cardiac deaths which occurred suddenly, as certifiers are not required to indicate at death registration whether or not a death was sudden. Figures are therefore provided for all heart diseases, sudden cardiac death (so described), acute ischaemic heart disease and cardiac arrhythmias. 1
	Figures are provided in the table below for 2004, the latest year for which data are currently available.
	
		Number of deaths from (a) all heart diseases, (b) sudden cardiac death, so described, (c) acute ischaemic heart disease and (d) cardiac arrhythmias1 in persons, by age, for usual residents of Gloucestershire registered in 2004 Numbers of deaths
		
			   Under 18 18–25 26–35 All ages 
		
		
			 (a) AH heart diseases 1 0 1 1,334 
			 (b) Sudden cardiac death,  so described 0 0 0 2 
			 (c) Acute ischaemic heart disease 0 0 0 514 
			 (d) Cardiac arrhythmias 0 0 0 29 
		
	
	(39) The cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Disease (ICD-10). Deaths were selected where the original underlying cause of death was one of the following codes:
	AII heart diseases ICD-10 120–15
	Sudden cardiac death, so described ICD-10146.1
	Acute ischaemic heart disease ICD-JO121
	Cardiac arrhythmias ICD-10144–149.

Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people are employed by the Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority.

Caroline Flint: Information about the number of people directly employed by the Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority (SHA) is shown in the following table.
	
		National health service hospital, public health medicine and community health services (HCHS) medical and non-medical staff, within Surrey and Sussex SHA organisation As at 30 September 2004
		
			  Number (headcount) 
		
		
			 All staff 139 
			 of which:  
			 HCHS medical and dental staff 10 
			 All non-medical staff 129 
			 of which:  
			 Professionally qualified clinical staff 2 
			 Qualified nurses 1 
			 Qualified scientific, therapeutic and technical 1 
			 NHS infrastructure support 127 
			 Central functions 72 
			 Managers and senior managers 55 
		
	
	Source:
	NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre non-medical workforce census 2004.
	NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre medical and dental workforce census 2004.

Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the budget of the Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority in each year since its inception; and what its budget is for 2005–06.

Caroline Flint: The first full year of operation for Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority (SHA) was 2003–04. The SHA budgets for 2003–04 and 2004–05 are shown in the following table. The budget for 2005–06 has not yet been finalised.
	
		Surrey and Sussex SHA budget
		
			  £ thousand 
			  Budget 
		
		
			 2003–04 4,700 
			 2004–05 5,057

Trust Staff

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) clinical and (b) non-clinical NHS staff have been employed in Burntwood, Lichfield and Tamworth primary care trust in each year since 1997.

Rosie Winterton: The information requested is shown in the table.
	
		Hospital, public health medicine and community health services (HCHS) staff, general medical practitioners and practice staff, clinical and non-clinical staff in specified organisations, 1997–2004: England Numbers (headcount)
		
			  1997 1998 1999 2000 
		
		
			 Q26—Shropshire and Staffordshire strategic health authority 29,047 30,148 30,156 31,183 
			 Total clinical staff 13,527 14,014 14,210 14,478 
			  
			 All doctors 2,127 2,188 2,303 2,252 
			 of which 
			 HCHS Doctors(40) 1,335 1,375 1,473 1,414 
			 General medical practitioners (excluding retainers)(41) 792 813 830 838 
			  
			 HCHS non-medical clinical staff(42) 10,626 11,143 11,353 11,614 
			 GP practice nurses 774 683 554 612 
			 Total non-clinical staff 15,520 16,134 15,946 16,705 
			  
			 HCHS non-medical non-clinical staff(43) 12,840 13,285 13,709 13,919 
			 Practice staff (excluding practice nurses)(44) 2,680 2,849 2,237 2,786 
			  
			 5DQ—Burntwood, Lichfield and Tamworth primary care trust (45)— (45)— (45)— (45)— 
			 Total clinical staff (45)— (45)— (45)— (45)— 
			  
			 All doctors (45)— (45)— (45)— (45)— 
			 of which 
			 HCHS doctors(40) (45)— (45)— (45)— (45)— 
			  
			 General medical practitioners (excluding retainers)(41) (45)— (45)— (45)— (45)— 
			  
			 HCHS non-medical clinical staff(42) (45)— (45)— (45)— (45)— 
			 GP practice nurses (45)— (45)— (45)— (45)— 
			 Total non-clinical staff (45)— (45)— (45)— (45)— 
			  
			 HCHS non-medical non-clinical staff(43) (45)— (45)— (45)— (45)— 
			 Practice staff (excluding practice nurses)(44) (45)— (45)— (45)— (45)— 
		
	
	
		
			  2001 2002 2003 2004 
		
		
			 Q26—Shropshire and Staffordshire strategic health authority 32,269 33,598 35,458 35,882 
			 Total clinical staff 15,421 15,933 16,724 17,295 
			  
			 All doctors 2,272 2,424 2,583 2,770 
			 of which 
			 HCHS Doctors(40) 1,447 1,563 1,686 1,825 
			 General medical practitioners (excluding retainers)(41) 825 861 897 945 
			  
			 HCHS non-medical clinical staff(42) 12,554 12,879 13,493 13,883 
			 GP practice nurses 595 630 648 642 
			 Total non-clinical staff 16,848 17,665 18,734 18,587 
			  
			 HCHS non-medical non-clinical staff(43) 14,642 15,378 16,195 16,158 
			 Practice staff (excluding practice nurses)(44) 2,206 2,287 2,539 2,429 
			  
			 5DQ—Burntwood, Lichfield and Tamworth primary care trust 548 966 1,154 1,082 
			 Total clinical staff 254 514 571 589 
			  
			 All doctors 82 86 94 104 
			 of which 
			 HCHS doctors(40) (46)— 1 2 1 
			  
			 General medical practitioners (excluding retainers)(41) 82 85 92 103 
			  
			 HCHS non-medical clinical staff(42) 111 366 407 453 
			 GP practice nurses 61 62 70 32 
			 Total non-clinical staff 294 452 583 493 
			  
			 HCHS non-medical non-clinical staff(43) 58 298 301 364 
			 Practice staff (excluding practice nurses)(44) 236 154 282 129 
		
	
	(40) Excludes hospital medical hospital practitioners and hospital medical clinical assistants, most of whom are GPs working part time in hospitals.
	(41) General medical practitioners (excluding retainers and registrars) includes contracted GP's general medical service (GMS) others and personal medical service (PMS) others. Prior to September 2004, this group included GMS unrestricted principals, PMS contracted GPs, PMS salaried GPs, restricted principals, assistants, salaried doctors (Para 52 SFA), PMS other, flexible career scheme GPs and GP returners.
	(42) Non-medical clinical staff are qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff, qualified scientific, therapeutic and technical staff and qualified ambulance staff.
	(43) Non-medical non-clinical staff are support to clinical staff, national health service infrastructure support staff and a number of unknown and unclassifiable staff.
	(44) Practice staff (excluding practice nurses) includes direct patient care, administrative and clerical staff and other.
	(45) Denotes zero
	(46) Denotes not available
	Notes:
	Data as at 30 September each year except GP and practice nurse data, which is as at 1 October 1997–99.
	Sources:
	NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre GMS and PMS statistics.
	NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre medical and dental workforce census.
	NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre non-medical workforce census.

Civil Servants

Vincent Cable: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what value-for-money procurement savings were identified and what reduction in civil service posts occurred in her Department in 2004–05.

Harriet Harman: In pre-Budget report 2004 the Chancellor reported OGC value for money gains in central civil Government procurement for 2003–04 of £2 billion. OGC value for money procurement gains for 2004–05 are being calculated and will be published in the 2005 Treasury Autumn Performance report.
	In Budget 2005 the Chancellor announced a headcount reduction of 12,500 posts by the end of 2004–05, towards the Government's target of a gross reduction of 84,000 civil service and administrative posts by 2008.
	The Department for Constitutional Affairs were not required to make a contribution to the headcount reduction of 12,500 by the end of 2004–05. The Department's target headcount reduction over the SR 04 period is 1,100 by March 2008.

Laptop Computers

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many laptop computers have been used by (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials in her Department in each year since 1995; how many have been (i) lost and (ii) stolen in that period; what the cost was of the use of laptops in that period; and if she will make a statement.

Harriet Harman: For my Department, information on the number and cost of laptops is available from 1999. Ministers and special advisers have been supplied with laptops since 2003. Information on lost and stolen laptops is available from 1995.
	Figures for individual years for (a) Ministers and (b) are as follows:
	
		Number
		
			  (a) Ministers' laptops (b) Special advisers' laptops 
		
		
			 2003 3 1 
			 2004 4 1 
		
	
	
		(c) Number of laptops issued to officials, together with the overall cost of the Department's laptops:
		
			   Number of laptops Cost of the use of laptops for the calendar year (£) 
		
		
			 1999 658 101, 808 
			 2000 667 120,960 
			 2001 346 132,864 
			 2002 444 361,594 
			 2003 594 630,367 
			 2004 597 700,626 
		
	
	
		Number of laptops (i) lost or (ii) stolen
		
			  (i) Number of laptops lost (ii) Number of laptops stolen 
		
		
			 1995 0 10 
			 1996 0 16 
			 1997 0 4 
			 1998 0 4 
			 1999 0 4 
			 2000 2 3 
			 2001 1 12 
			 2002 1 16 
			 2003 0 6 
			 2004 1 14

Barker Report

David Amess: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  if he will make a statement on implementation of the Barker report;
	(2)  what recommendations of the Barker review the Government have (a) already implemented and (b) intends to implement.

Yvette Cooper: The Government's initial response to Kate Barker's report was provided by my right hon. Friends the Chancellor and the Deputy Prime Minister alongside the Budget on 17 March 2004. We said then that we intend to bring forward a package of measures to address the recommendations of the Barker review by the end of 2005.
	Kate Barker's proposals build on the approach adopted in the communities plan, launched by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister in February 2003. Her analysis have reinforced our case and strategy for more homes to address rising demand. In particular, the Government have accepted Kate Barker's central recommendation that there should be a step change in housing supply.
	In advance of the wider package, and in response to one of Kate Barker's recommendations, the Government consulted last year on proposals to strengthen regional integration by bringing together regional planning bodies and regional housing boards and to provide the merged bodies with independent advice. In the pamphlet "Extending Home Ownership", launched by my right hon. Friends the Deputy Prime Minister and the Chancellor on 25 May, we confirmed that the merger of regional planning bodies and regional housing boards would go ahead. We also said that we would shortly announce further details about how independent evidence and analysis to support regional planning bodies would be strengthened.
	In the 2004 spending review, we made a start on infrastructure investment in creating a community infrastructure fund, as recommended by Kate Barker. An extra £50 million in 2006–07 and £150 million in 2007–08 will be available to finance transport projects needed to sustain housing growth. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor also allocated funds which, with additional PFI funding and efficiency gains, aim to provide an extra 10,000 new homes for social let annually by 2007–08.
	The Government plan to consult in summer 2005 on changes to planning policy guidance on housing (PPG3).

Education Finance (London)

Sarah Teather: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much was spent by each London borough on education per 1,000 population in each of the last five years.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Table A provides combined LEA and school based expenditure per pupil for each London borough from 1999–2000 to 2003–04. This does not take into account non school-based education e.g. adult/community education.
	
		Table A: Combined LEA and school based expenditure1,2 per pupil 3 (1999–2000 to 2003–04)4,5 Cash terms
		
			   1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 6 
		
		
			  England 2,800 2,980 3,290 3,440 3,890 
			
			 301 Barking and Dagenham 3,110 3,260 3,750 3,950 4,470 
			 302 Barnet 3,180 3,170 3,500 3,670 4,170 
			 303 Bexley 2,640 2,790 3,110 3,320 3,810 
			 304 Brent 3,410 3,530 3,840 3,950 4,590 
			 305 Bromley 2,770 2,880 3,150 3,430 3,640 
			 202 Camden 4,120 4,270 4,840 5,730 6,040 
			 201 City of London 9,720 7,780 7,580 9,090 9,790 
			 306 Croydon 2,940 3,140 3,560 3,610 3,940 
			 307 Ealing 3,240 3,390 3,790 3,880 4,550 
			 308 Enfield 3,090 3,280 3,650 3,730 4,420 
			 203 Greenwich 3,740 3,890 4,320 4,610 5,020 
			 204 Hackney 3,940 4,480 4,760 4,860 5,650 
			 205 Hammersmith and Fulham 3,920 4,020 4,530 4,460 5,290 
			 309 Haringey 3,660 3,910 4,440 4,580 5,190 
			 310 Harrow 3,150 3,200 3,600 3,800 4,090 
			 311 Havering 2,690 2,890 3,150 3,260 3,730 
			 312 Hillingdon 2,950 3,070 3,300 3,470 3,930 
			 313 Hounslow 3,160 3,320 3,690 4,190 4,430 
			 206 Islington 3,800 4,240 4,770 4,680 5,600 
			 207 Kensington and Chelsea 4,540 4,510 4,850 5,010 5,650 
			 314 Kingston-upon-Thames 2,900 2,980 3,280 3,420 3,990 
			 208 Lambeth 4,200 4,660 4,800 4,650 5,170 
			 209 Lewisham 3,710 3,980 4,470 4,230 5,520 
			 315 Merton 3,160 3,300 3,450 4,120 4,320 
			 316 Newham 3,230 3,530 3,870 4,070 4,530 
			 317 Redbridge 2,860 3,090 3,520 3,580 3,960 
			 318 Richmond-upon-Thames 2,950 3,150 3,480 4,100 4,440 
			 210 Southwark 3,880 3,880 4,800 4,670 5,120 
			 319 Sutton 2,830 2,970 3,270 3,430 3,810 
			 211 Tower Hamlets 3,990 4,450 4,990 5,630 5,750 
			 320 Waltham Forest 3,210 3,630 3,870 3,890 4,380 
			 212 Wandsworth 3,600 3,730 4,070 3,550 4,570 
			 213 Westminster 4,200 4,430 4,930 5,230 5,410 
		
	
	(47) The combined LEA and school based expenditure includes all expenditure on the education of children in LEA maintained establishments and pupils educated by the LEA other than in maintained establishments. This includes both school based expenditure and all elements of central LEA expenditure except youth and community and capital expenditure from revenue (CERA). A sector breakdown for combined LEA and school based expenditure is not available in 2002–03 and consequently this table shows the total LEA recurrent expenditure (except youth and community) per pupil by LEA since 1994–95.
	(48) 1999–2000 saw a change in data source when the data collection moved from the RO1 form collected by the ODPM to the Section 52 form from the DfES. 2002–03 saw a further break in the time series following the introduction of Consistent Financial Reporting (CFR) and the associated restructuring of the outturn tables. The change in sources is shown in italic. In 2002–03 the combined LEA and school based expenditure is calculated by Section 52 Outturn Table A line 51 net current expenditure (NCE) plus line 60 NCE (with adjustments to income to take account of School Standards Grant and Standards Fund scored here) plus lines 61 to 74 NCE. For 2001–02 and earlier years the expenditure is calculated as line 27 NCE after recharges for columns (b) to (f) and (h) plus line 15 from the remaining continuing education column (g, i and j). This is taken from Section 52 Outturn Table 3 for 1999–00 to 2001–02 and from the RO1 form previously.
	(49) Pupil figures include all pre-primary pupils, including those under 5s funded by the LEA and being educated in private settings, pupils educated in maintained mainstream schools and other LEA maintained pupils. The pupil data for pupils attending maintained nursery, primary, secondary and special schools are taken from the DfES Annual Schools Census. Private voluntary and independent (PVI) under 5 pupil numbers are taken from the Early Years census but are only include for 1999–2000 onwards. For 1995–96 onwards other LEA maintained pupils are included in the pupil count. This includes all pupils attending schools not maintained by the Authority for whom the Authority is paying full tuition fees, or educated otherwise than in schools and pupil referral units under arrangements made by the Authority drawn from the Form 8b submitted to the DfES. Also included as other LEA maintained pupils are all pupils attending pupil referral units who are not registered at a maintained mainstream school drawn from the DfES Annual Schools Census. All pupil numbers are adjusted to be on a financial year basis.
	(50) Spending in 1997–98 reflects the transfer of monies from local government to central Government for the nursery vouchers scheme. These were returned to local government from 1998–99. The 1999–2000 figures reflect the return of GM schools to local authority maintenance.
	(51) In 2002–03 the combined LEA and school based unit cost for England showed a cash terms increase of 5 per cent. compared with a 10 per cent. increase in 2001–02. This is in part due to known misreporting of funding by some LEAs which had the estimated effect of reducing the 2002–03 England unit cost by around £50 per pupil (in cash terms).
	(52) 2003–04 remains provisional at this time and is subject to change by LEAs.

Fire Service

Sarah Teather: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many malicious false alarms were (a) registered and (b) attended by each fire authority in each year since 1997.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The information is as follows:
	(a) The number of malicious false alarm calls processed by fire and rescue service control room staff is not available centrally.
	(b) The number of malicious fire false alarm calls attended by each fire and rescue service in England in each year from 1997–98 to 2003–04 is shown in the following table.
	
		Malicious fire false alarms attended
		
			 Fire and rescue authority 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 
		
		
			 Avon 1,522 1,415 1,485 1,339 
			 Bedfordshire 491 371 439 383 
			 Berkshire 957 868 1,047 876 
			 Buckinghamshire 752 433 540 454 
			 Cambridgeshire 909 825 612 489 
			 Cheshire 765 592 582 519 
			 Cleveland 3,356 2,585 2,514 1,995 
			 Cornwall 292 319 300 303 
			 Cumbria 617 618 555 562 
			 Derbyshire 1,165 1,008 1,099 865 
			 Devon 1,072 993 886 905 
			 Dorset 625 702 653 480 
			 Durham 1,727 1,412 1,258 1,053 
			 East Sussex 517 492 510 519 
			 Essex 1,825 1,608 1,684 1,778 
			 Gloucestershire 441 385 256 191 
			 Greater London 13,814 12,991 12,638 11,661 
			 Greater Manchester 7,890 6,488 6,547 5,885 
			 Hampshire 653 607 638 719 
			 Hereford and Worcester 498 466 516 438 
			 Hertfordshire 653 521 511 574 
			 Humberside 1,537 1,058 941 988 
			 Isle of Wight 87 118 91 76 
			 Isles of Scilly 2 0 0 0 
			 Kent 1,673 1,522 1,370 1,397 
			 Lancashire 1,652 1,317 1,444 1,357 
			 Leicestershire 1,121 914 882 687 
			 Lincolnshire 453 361 360 317 
			 Merseyside 4,282 3,248 3,632 2,726 
			 Norfolk 316 242 310 305 
			 North Yorkshire 429 389 346 340 
			 Northamptonshire 481 417 438 494 
			 Northumberland 360 300 247 251 
			 Nottinghamshire 1,268 1,017 1,106 862 
			 Oxfordshire(55) 602 589 580 490 
			 Shropshire 308 485 296 255 
			 Somerset 229 247 230 208 
			 South Yorkshire 3,595 3,331 3,172 2,779 
			 Staffordshire 875 863 874 840 
			 Suffolk 444 346 374 366 
			 Surrey 790 587 611 512 
			 Tyne and Wear 2,971 2,490 1,694 1,257 
			 Warwickshire 564 334 259 299 
			 West Midlands 9,216 7,834 8,089 5,233 
			 West Sussex 675 618 569 443 
			 West Yorkshire 7,063 2,961 2,757 2,681 
			 Wiltshire 445 421 544 558 
			  
			 England 81,979 67,708 66,486 57,709 
		
	
	
		
			 Fire and rescue authority 2001–02 2002–03 1 2003–04 2 
		
		
			 Avon 1,444 1,529 1,433 
			 Bedfordshire 453 327 362 
			 Berkshire 962 712 625 
			 Buckinghamshire 468 380 356 
			 Cambridgeshire 457 381 360 
			 Cheshire 583 598 578 
			 Cleveland 1,734 1,381 480 
			 Cornwall 241 213 1–71 
			 Cumbria 534 613 286 
			 Derbyshire 767 710 629 
			 Devon 111 720 613 
			 Dorset 468 414 328 
			 Durham 1,089 952 599 
			 East Sussex 564 477 511 
			 Essex 1,991 2,052 1,687 
			 Gloucestershire 151 150 145 
			 Greater London 12,347 10,448 9,858 
			 Greater Manchester 6,262 5,745 5,172 
			 Hampshire 812 794 796 
			 Hereford and Worcester 500 349 350 
			 Hertfordshire 736 607 372 
			 Humberside 973 865 695 
			 Isle of Wight 91 78 59 
			 Isles of Scilly 3 2 0 
			 Kent 1,499 1,312 1,099 
			 Lancashire 1,523 1,390 1,377 
			 Leicestershire 750 641 564 
			 Lincolnshire 400 555 535 
			 Merseyside 2,310 2,305 2,365 
			 Norfolk 304 301 263 
			 North Yorkshire 357 346 321 
			 Northamptonshire 378 423 371 
			 Northumberland 261 245 201 
			 Nottinghamshire 880 799 715 
			 Oxfordshire(55) 412 288 171 
			 Shropshire 320 290 199 
			 Somerset 237 249 237 
			 South Yorkshire 2,873 2,610 2,018 
			 Staffordshire 870 845 629 
			 Suffolk 472 390 342 
			 Surrey 484 411 425 
			 Tyne and Wear 1,261 1,039 987 
			 Warwickshire 196 370 179 
			 West Midlands 5,176 4,385 4,068 
			 West Sussex 388 404 386 
			 West Yorkshire 2,896 2,536 2,321 
			 Wiltshire 199 165 165 
			 
			 England 58,853 52,796 46,403 
		
	
	(53) Data include estimates for incidents not recorded during periods of national industrial action in 2002–03.
	(54) Provisional 2004 data.
	(55) Data for Oxfordshire for 2002–03 onwards are not directly comparable with previous years due to revised procedures in responding to an alarm.
	Source:
	Fire and Rescue Service FDR3 returns to ODPM

Housing (Overcrowding)

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his most recent estimate is of the number of (a) households and (b) children living in overcrowded housing.

Yvette Cooper: Using data from the Survey of English Housing it is estimated that in 2003–04 in England there were (a) 473,000 households, and (b) 767,000 children under 16 living in households which do not pass the "bedroom standard". This represented 2 per cent. of all households and 8 per cent. of all children.

Housing (Overcrowding)

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his most recent estimate is of the number of households in overcrowded accommodation, broken down by (a) region and (b) property tenure; and what the figures were in 1991.

Yvette Cooper: The most recent estimates of the number of households in overcrowded accommodation which fails the "bedroom standard", broken down by (a) region and (b) property tenure, are shown in the following tables, alongside equivalent figures for 1991. These figures suggest a significant overall decline in overcrowding between 1991 and 2003–04 of 43 per cent.
	
		Households in England in overcrowded accommodation, by region: 1991 and 2003–04 Thousand
		
			 Standard Statistical Region 1991 2003–04 
		
		
			 North 37 22 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 77 31 
			 North West 120 44 
			 East Midlands 53 24 
			 West Midlands 92 51 
			 East Anglia 23 12 
			 London 208 187 
			 South East 154 76 
			 South West 70 26 
			 All regions 834 473 
		
	
	Sources:
	1991 DOE Labour Force Survey Housing Trailer
	2003–04 ODPM Survey of English Housing
	
		Households in England in overcrowded accommodation, by tenure: 1991 and 2003–04 Thousand
		
			 Tenure 1991 2003–04 
		
		
			 Owner occupiers 381 198 
			 Social renters 312 180 
			 Private renters 142 95 
			 All tenures 834 473 
		
	
	Sources:
	1991 DOE Labour Force Survey Housing Trailer
	2003–04 ODPM Survey of English Housing

Academically Gifted Children

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what (a) guidance is issued and (b) research has been undertaken by his Department in relation to educating academically gifted children (i) exclusively with other academically gifted children and (ii) with non-academically gifted children.

Angela Smith: The Department of Education has not issued specific guidance to schools or undertaken research in relation to the education of academically gifted children.

Belfast Regeneration Office

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been spent by the Belfast Regeneration Office in each year since its formation.

David Hanson: Belfast Regeneration Office (BRO) was formed in 1997–98 financial year. The following table details the amount of money spent by RO (excluding receipts) through its three main funding streams, namely; Action Plan; Making Belfast Work (Area Teams); and Physical, since its formation. It should be noted that the amounts supplied in this table differ from information provided in response to an earlier parliamentary question on 9 March 2005, Official Report, column 1878, on BRO expenditure. I apologise to the hon. Gentleman as this was due to an administrative oversight which resulted in physical expenditure being excluded. It should also be noted that since 2002–03 and the 2003–04 financial years respectively BRO has no longer had responsibility for EU expenditure or Belfast City Centre. This has been a contributory factor to the decline in expenditure recorded against BRO.
	
		
			  Amount (£) 
		
		
			 1997–98 25,513,497 
			 1998–99 13,912,247 
			 1999–2000 22,649,589 
			 2000–01 21,079,449 
			 2001–02 18,189,856 
			 2002–03 17,236,077 
			 2003–04 7,899,261 
			 2002–05 5,890,176 
			 2005–06 (to date) 1,178,918

Classroom Assistants

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the job evaluation process for classroom assistants is expected to be finalised; and if he will make a statement.

Angela Smith: Classroom Assistants are employees of the local Education and Library Boards and issues relating to their terms and conditions of employment are therefore a matter for the Boards as employers. I understand that there are important issues that remain to be resolved between the Boards and Trade Union Side in respect of classroom assistants. I am assured that negotiations remain on-going and that their completion is a priority for all five Boards. In these circumstances, it would not be appropriate for me to comment further beyond confirming that funding has already been made available by the Department for arrears linked to this particular job evaluation exercise and is not affected by the current financial position of the Boards.

Hare Coursing

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many applications he has received for the netting of hares for hare coursing; and if he will defer any decision on these applications until he has received the results of the survey of Irish hare numbers which the Department of Environment has recently commissioned.

Angela Smith: One application for a licence to net hares for hare coursing in October 205 has been received from the Ballymena Coursing Club.
	My noble Friend, Lord Rooker, will take into account the status of the Irish hare population in considering that application.

Higher Education Funding

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much funding for higher education colleges was made available by his Department in each education and library board area in Northern Ireland in each of the past five years; and how much was made available for the North Down and Ards Institute.

Angela Smith: In 1999 responsibility for the funding of the further education colleges in Northern Ireland passed from the education and library boards to the Department for Higher and Further Education Training and Employment, now the Department for Employment and Learning. In the academic years 1999/2000, 2000/01, 2001/02, 2002/03 and 2003/04 North Down and Ards Institute of Further and Higher Education received total FE recurrent and capital funding of £6.912 million, £7.869 million, £9.093 million, £10.846 million and £11.72 million respectively. The academic year runs from 1 August until 31 July and therefore the last full academic year for which details are available is year ended 31 July 2004. Detailed in the following table is the total recurrent and capital funding paid to all the further education colleges over the last five academic years.
	
		DEL grants as per college audited accounts £000
		
			  Year end 31 July: 
			 College 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 
		
		
			 Armagh 3,873 3,734 3,986 5,060 5,788 
			 BIFHE 23,111 27,813 28,243 34,785 33,968 
			 Castlereagh 3,275 3,908 4,130 5,840 5,961 
			 Causeway 4,230 4,686 5,202 5,190 6,392 
			 East Antrim 4,808 6,493 7,168 7,972 8,071 
			 East Down 4,441 4,848 5,239 5,826 5,710 
			 East Tyrone 3,780 4,120 3,993 4,337 4,835 
			 Fermanagh 4,247 4,246 4,650 5,888 6,578 
			 Limavady 3,382 4,203 4,399 4,704 5,910 
			 Lisburn 3,961 3,994 5,469 6,199 6,123 
			 Newry and Kilkeel 5,978 6,577 7,892 9,762 10,838 
			 NI Hotel and Catering  College 1,898 1,817 1,974 (58)— — 
			 North Down 6,912 7,869 9,093 10,846 11,720 
			 North East 7,315 8,957 9,655 10,095 11,064 
			 North West 11,822 14,097 16,017 18,138 18,953 
			 Omagh 3,373 3,793 4,306 4,840 4,909 
			 Upper Bann 6,312 7,056 7,555 7,958 9,377 
			 Total 102,718 118,211 128,971 147,440 156,197 
		
	
	(58) Amalgamated with university of Ulster.

Incapacity/Industrial Injury Benefits

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many residents in (a) Newtownards, (b) Comber, (c) Dundonald, (d) Carryduff and (e) Killyleagh were in receipt of (i) incapacity benefit and (ii) industrial injury benefits in each of the last three years.

David Hanson: The information requested is as follows.
	
		Incapacity benefit as at August each year Number
		
			 Area 2002 2003 2004 
		
		
			 Newtownards 3,610 3,765 3,777 
			 Comber 396 412 403 
			 Dundonald 109 111 111 
			 Carryduff 236 243 230 
			 Killyleagh 143 132 129 
		
	
	
		Industrial injuries as at August each year Number
		
			 Area 2002 2003 2004 
		
		
			 Newtownards n/a 593 623 
			 Comber n/a 77 76 
			 Dundonald n/a 34 34 
			 Carryduff n/a 34 39 
			 Killyleagh n/a 10 13 
		
	
	A geographical breakdown of industrial injuries benefit claimants is unavailable for 2002.

Libraries

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was spent on the purchase of new books for libraries in each education board area in each of the last five years.

David Hanson: The following table sets out details of the amount spent by each of the Education and Library Boards on the purchase of new books in each of the last five years.
	
		
			  £000 
			  2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 
		
		
			 BELB 445 371 497 125 (59)173 
			 NEELB 336 274 577 342 (59)173 
			 SEELB 490 565 472 266 (59)118 
			 SELB 394 (60)228 334 119 (59)117 
			 WELB 89 262 332 143 (59)176 
		
	
	(59) Information sourced directly from boards, published figures not yet available.
	(60) Figure sourced directly from board, not included in published returns for this year
	Note:
	This information includes monies spent on reference books, adult fiction, adult non-fiction and children's books. It does not cover newspapers, periodicals, magazines or electronic media.
	Source:
	Remainder of figures sourced from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Public Library Statistics Publication.

Multi-storey Car Parking (Coleraine)

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he expects multi- storey car parking provision to be made available in Coleraine.

David Hanson: Despite the best endeavours of Roads Service to develop a multi-storey car park on the existing ground level car park in Abbey Street, the legal advice is that the statutory powers vested in the Agency would not be sufficient for the type of development required.
	The powers for development of such lands are vested in the Department for Social Development (DSD) under Article 87 of the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991. The Department for Social Development is considering how best to take forward developments on the Mall and Abbey Street car parks in Coleraine town centre. Subject to the response from the private sector to the development opportunities presented by the sites, it is anticipated that work could begin during 2006.

Neighbourhood Renewal (North Belfast)

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress has been made on the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy in North Belfast.

David Hanson: Since the launch of Government's Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy "People and Place" in June 2003 by the then Minister for Social Development, (Mr. Spellar), good progress has been made in North Belfast.
	To date 15 organisation's have received funding totalling £923,390 under phases 1 and 2 of the Neighbourhood Renewal Investment Fund with a further 11 organisations currently under consideration.
	Work is also underway to create Neighbourhood Partnerships in each of the four Neighbourhood Renewal Area's namely: Inner City North Belfast; Crumlin/Ardoyne; Upper Ardoyne/Ligoniel; and Rathcoole.
	The Inner City North Belfast Partnership has submitted a "Statement of Readiness" to the Department for Social Development and it is expected this will receive approval in the next few days. At that stage the Partnership will commence work in developing the Neighbourhood "Vision Framework" and "Action Plan" for the Neighbourhood Renewal Area.

Neighbourhood Renewal (North Belfast)

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been spent on (a) new build housing, (b) urban renewal areas and (c) renovation and repair in the social housing sector in North Belfast in each year since 2001.

David Hanson: The information requested is set out in the following table and shows land and property acquisition costs which are an essential complement to the expenditure on urban renewal areas but not forming part of that expenditure.
	
		
			   £ million 
			   Urban renewal areas and associated land and property acquisition Renovation and repair 
			  New build social housing Urban renewal areas Land acquisition Property acquisitions Capital improvement Revenue maintenance 
		
		
			 2001–2002 16.0 0.7 1.3 0.6 17.4 6.1 
			 2002–2003 19.2 2.1 1 0.9 3 9 
			 2003–2004 3 1.6 4.8 1.4 0.8 1.8 6.5 
			 2004–2005 27.5 2.5 1.2 1.4 3.4 3. 2

Racist Attacks

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many racist attacks have occurred in each parliamentary constituency in Northern Ireland over the last three years; and what steps have been taken by the agencies to combat such attacks.

Shaun Woodward: The statistics are not available in the format requested as the Police Service of Northern Ireland record statistics by District Command Unit rather than by parliamentary constituency. These statistics are set out in the following table:
	
		Number of racial incidents(63)—2002–03 and 2003–04
		
			 District command unit 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2 
		
		
			 Urban region
			 North Belfast 16 27 76 
			 South Belfast 58 147 159 
			 East Belfast 11 32 54 
			 West Belfast 0 11 13 
			 Castlereagh 8 10 12 
			 North Down 17 18 19 
			 Newtownabbey 18 18 15 
			 Antrim 0 4 23 
			 Carrickfergus 2 4 21 
			 Lisburn 6 16 28 
			 Lame 5 2 0 
			 Ards 0 0 25 
			 Total for Region 141 289 445 
			 
			 Rural region
			 Ballymena 6 37 52 
			 Ballymoney 2 3 8 
			 Coleraine 3 7 22 
			 Limavady 1 2 7 
			 Foyle 5 12 40 
			 Moyle 1 0 1 
			 Magherafelt 0 1 9 
			 Strabane 0 0 3 
			 Omagh 2 2 6 
			 Fermanagh 2 5 18 
			 Armagh 4 14 14 
			 Banbridge 0 2 1 
			 Craigavon 35 31 79 
			 Cookstown 14 11 16 
			 Down 1 5 8 
			 Newry and Mourne 2 11 15 
			 Dungannon and South Tyrone 7 21 69 
			 Total for Region 85 164 368 
			 Overall Total 226 453 813 
		
	
	(63) Racial incidents include murder, physical assault, verbal abuse/threat, attack on home, attack on property, graffiti and written material.
	(64) Not directly comparable with earlier years.
	A new method of recording these figures was introduced in 2004–05. The statistics issued by the Chief Constable are now aligned with Home Office practice and as a result the figures for 2004–05 are not directly comparable with the figures for 2002–03 and 2003–04.
	PSNI believe the rise in figures to be due to an increase in racially motivated offences, improved confidence in the PSNI amongst minority ethnic communities and improved recording systems.
	The Government are currently taking steps to tackle the issue of racially motivated incidents. The Criminal Justice (No2) (Northern Ireland) Order 2004 has already been introduced. This directs the courts to take account during sentencing of any offence where there is evidence of hostility based on, among other things, race, and it increases the maximum sentences available for certain specified, mainly violent offences including where racial aggravation is proven.
	The Police Service of Northern Ireland is investing considerable time and effort in addressing race crime. Recent initiatives include the introduction of an on-line reporting system on the PSNI website as part of the "Hate Crime is Wrong" campaign. minority liaison officers have been appointed in each District Command Unit. Their role is to record and monitor racially motivated and other types of hate crime in their area, advise and support victims of such crime, and work in partnership with statutory and voluntary agencies to address these issues. The PSNI has also introduced targeted patrolling in areas where people are deemed to be at greatest risk of attack and are working in partnership with other agencies to develop solution to the problem.
	The PSNI is determined to investigate fully all hate related incidents and where possible to secure sufficient evidence to prosecute offenders.

Recorded Crime (North Belfast)

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many crimes have been recorded in (a) North Belfast and (b) Northern Ireland in each year since 1997; in how many cases there was a detection; in how many cases proceedings were commenced; and in how many cases convictions were secured.

Shaun Woodward: The Police Service of Northern Ireland has provided the following statistics in relation to the number of crimes recorded and cleared by the police since 2000: Unfortunately PSNI Statistics Branch does not hold information prior to this date.
	
		
			  2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 
		
		
			 (a) North Belfast District Command Unit  
			 Crimes recorded 10,029 12,605 12,137 9,698 8,637 
			 Crimes cleared by method of clearance:  
			 Charge/summons 1,133 667 1,032 939 1,032 
			 Adult caution/informed warning 192 77 129 83 68 
			 Taken into consideration by the court 26 1 6 1 11 
			 Juvenile restorative caution/informed warning 108 55 113 55 41 
			 Offender under age 20 8 10 18 11 
			 Complainant declined to prosecute 628 378 557 796 573 
			 DCU Commander/DPP/PPS direct no prosecution 120 58 31 29 20 
			 Otherwise disposed of 18 21 21 21 13 
			 Total crimes cleared 2,245 1,265 1,899 1,942 1,769 
			   
			 (b) Northern Ireland  
			 Crimes recorded 119,912 139,786 142,496 127,953 118,124 
			 Crimes cleared by method of clearance:  
			 Charge/summons 13,052 11,808 13,896 14,375 14,631 
			 Adult caution/informed warning 2,795 2,079 2,393 2,227 2,206 
			 Taken into consideration by the court 1,151 439 612 534 457 
			 Juvenile restorative caution/informed warning 1,927 1,427 1,554 1,427 1,421 
			 Offender under age 245 219 177 169 211 
			 Complainant declined to prosecute 10,874 10,140 12,051 14,361 12,230 
			 DCU Commander /DPP/PPS direct no prosecution 2,232 1,652 1,438 1,542 1,788 
			 Otherwise disposed of 246 378 685 458 400 
			 Total crimes cleared 32,522 28,142 32,806 35,093 33,344 
		
	
	Statistics relating to prosecution and convictions are provided in the following table:
	
		
			  Prosecutions Convictions 
			  Northern Ireland North Belfast Northern Ireland North Belfast 
		
		
			 1997 35,599 1,566 30,964 1,422 
			 1998 31,127 1,296 26,880 1,136 
			 1999 30,439 1,166 26,524 1,057 
			 2000 30,492 — 26,618 — 
			 2001 28,563 — 24,350 — 
			 2002 28,044 — 24,100 — 
			 2003 30,937 — 26,675 — 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. The figures above are based on the principal offence rule so only the most serious offence for which a person is proceeded against is included.
	2. From 2000, prosecutions data are drawn from the PSNI Integrated Crime Information System, which only records the District Command Unit to which an offender's address relates. Figures are not therefore available for proceedings stemming from crimes reported to North Belfast after 1999.
	3. Information is not yet available for prosecutions and convictions made after 2003.

Suicide

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many deaths by suicide were recorded in each health trust area in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Angela Smith: The following table gives the number of deaths in Northern Ireland of residents of each health and social services trust area for the years 2000 to 2004, where the cause of death was recorded as either 'suicide and self-inflicted injury' 1 or 'undetermined injury whether accidentally or purposefully inflicted' 2 .
	1 International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes X60-X84, Y87.0 for years 2001–04 and Ninth Revision codes E950-E959 for 2000.
	2 International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes Y10-Y34, Y87.2 for years 2001–04 and Ninth Revision codes E980-E989 for 2000.
	
		Number of deaths in Northern Ireland of residents of each health and social services board and trust area by year due to 'suicide and self-inflicted injury' or 'undetermined injury whether accidentally or purposefully inflicted'
		
			  2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 1 2000–04 1 
		
		
			 Eastern health and social services board 90 69 71 59 61 350 
			 Down Lisburn 18 17 15 20 12 82 
			 North and West Belfast 31 17 21 20 22 111 
			 South and East Belfast 22 17 16 12 14 81 
			 Ulster Community 19 18 19 7 13 76 
			
			 Northern health and social services board 38 31 47 33 26 175 
			 Causeway 7 6 8 9 5 35 
			 Homefirst 31 25 39 24 21 140 
			
			 Southern health and social services board 27 33 35 30 30 155 
			 Armagh and Dungannon 1 7 10 4 7 29 
			 Craigavon and Banbridge 11 19 13 19 14 76 
			 Newry and Mourne 15 7 12 7 9 50 
			
			 Western health and social services board 30 25 30 22 28 135 
			 Foyle 17 8 18 16 17 76 
			 Sperrin Lakeland 13 17 12 6 11 59 
			
			 Northern Ireland 185 158 183 144 145 815 
		
	
	(65) Data for 2004 is provisional

Traffic Calming (Strangford)

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many successful requests for traffic calming measures are awaiting action by the Department of Regional Developments Roads Service section within the Strangford constituency; what the average time between approval and completion of work was in the last period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Shaun Woodward: The Chief Executive of Roads Service (Dr. Malcolm McKibbin) has been asked to write to the hon. Lady in response to this question.
	Letter from Dr. Malcolm McKibbin to Mrs Iris Robinson, dated 14 June 2005
	You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a Parliamentary Question:
	"how many successful requests for traffic calming measures are awaiting action by the Department of Regional Development's Roads Service section within the Strangford constituency; what the average time between approval and completion of work was in the last period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement."
	I have been asked to reply as this issue falls within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Roads Service.
	As you will be aware, the Strangford Constituency incorporates parts of both our Eastern and Southern Divisions. The schemes currently listed for the 2005/06 and 2006/07 years are as follows:
	
		Schemes currently listed
		
			  
		
		
			 2005–06  
			 Scrabo Estate (N'ards) Ready to commence construction 
			 Railway St (Comber) Currently dealing with objections 
			 Portaferry (approach to town) Consultation began 20 May 2005 
			 Saintfield (approach to town) Consultation began 13 June 2005 
			 Killynure Road (Carryduff) At design stage 
			 Moneyrea Village At design stage 
			 Gransha Road (Dundonald) At design stage 
			 2006–07  
			 Movilla St (N'ards) Programmed 
			 Killinchy (approach to village) Programmed 
			 Parsonage Rd (Kircubbin) Programmed 
			 Old Ballygowan Rd (Comber) Programmed 
			 Downpatrick Rd Crossgar Programmed 
		
	
	(No schemes have been listed for our Eastern Divisional area for 06/07 year as their traffic calming programme has yet to be finalised.)
	The time between approval of a scheme and completion of the work may vary from two months to one year depending on the consultation process and the contractor's workload and logistics, but an average timescale would normally be six months. However, I should point out that schemes completed in the 2004/05 financial year in the Strangford constituency averaged 8 months due to a problem with the supply of signs that has since been resolved.